Gallant
by Pikdude
Summary: A small girl finds an egg. Meanwhile, dark forces move in a sinister plot. Rated M for language and lemons.
1. Chapter 1: An Eventful Birthday

Ayui danced down the stairs on the bright April morning. She was gleefully happy, even more so than usual for a small girl of her young age. Today was the day- Today was the most specialest day in the history of special days- Today was her birthday. One needn't look at the family calendar, which had "AYUI'S BIRTHDAY!" written across it in bright pink letters. One needn't look outside, to the birthday balloons and the large, positively fluorescent birthday banner hanging on the modest, three-bedroom two-bath home. You didn't even need to have been handed a painstakingly done yet obviously child made invitation three weeks before to know it.

No, in the spirit of little girls everywhere, Ayui was singing at the top of her lungs. Her little black pigtails bounced as she sang at the top of her lungs- "I'm turning ten! I'm turning ten!" Indeed, if you lived on the block you knew exactly whose birthday it was. Eleven o'clock rolled around, and the little raven-haired girl proudly stood on the driveway and flagged down all her nine and ten year old friends whose parents dropped them off one by one. Finally, about twenty minutes later (an eternity for Ayui), all were present and accounted for.

For a full three and half hours, the house was filled with the giggles and shrieks present at such an event. A massive cake came out, shaped like a Pokeball; as was the custom for tenth-year birthdays in the Hoenn region. It was customary for those who chose so to begin their journeys as trainers at ten years of age to depart from their homes and embark on what has been called the most wonderful adventure- being a Pokemon Trainer. Ayui had no dreams of becoming this, but she still loved Pokemon and everything to do with them.

Eventually it came to an end, and the tired children all traipsed home. Ayui said goodbye and then went for a walk in the nearby woods, as she was prone to do. She liked to quietly walk among the sunlit trees and play with the Seedot and Swallow that lived there. This afternoon was a perfect one- the sky was blue with beautiful fluffy clouds, and the golden sunlight streamed through from above creating areas of contrasting shadow and light. The overall effect was quite surreal.

She sat down on a moss-covered rock worn smooth by generations of people sitting on it. Suddenly tired, she leaned back and closed her eyes… And was immediately woken up by a slight tapping noise. Irritable, she cracked open an eye, squinting against the sun. The tapping continued, getting louder. She slowly sat up to see a Swellow tapping its beak against a large, egg-white oval with small green spots all over it.

She leapt to her feet, seizing a rock and throwing it with startling accuracy, knocking the bird off of the pokemon egg. She ran over and grabbed up the egg, wrapping her shirt around it and running as fast as she could back to the house. She sprinted up the front steps, breathing hard and almost running into the door in her haste. She threw open the front door and slammed it shut behind her.

Feeling the egg stir in her hands, she looked down to see a small, almost infinitesimal crack spread across its surface, spiderwebbing over the whole upper half before the cracked section slowly floated off, landing in her lap. A tiny red horn poked through, followed by an even tinier green and white head freshly wet from the egg's yolk. Ayui watched in wonder as the dripping infant Pokemon hatched before her eyes. Tentatively reaching out to stroke it softly, she was astonished when a sudden voice spoke in her head as soon as she touched it: Ayui Ribusaki.

Cinnabar Mansion

The man stepped gingerly over a pile of rubble, his custom tailored tweed suit stretching with a slight noise of fabric on fabric. These things were not meant for clambering around abandoned mansions on tiny, backwards islands in the middle of some nowhere region called Kanto. They really ought to be meeting in a swanky hotel room somewhere, not acting like teenage gangsters.

Still grumbling, he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a grubby map of the place he had bought from some kid. Squinting at it, he realized he was hopelessly lost. Shrugging, he crumpled up the map and tossed it aside. A hand, seeming to materialize out of thin air, reached out and grabbed it as it sailed across the room. The hand belonged to a tall, dark shadow of a man whose glasses gave off a slight reflection from within his pocket of shadows. He gave off an aura the likes of which immediately informed the well-dressed man why they were meeting in a burned-out creepy old house.

"A shame, really," He said, his voice sounding as smooth as oil on water. "This map is by far the most detailed I have ever seen of this marvellous place." The tweed man swallowed, suddenly nervous but pressing on determinedly.

"You must be the one I'm here to meet then," He said, his voice quavering so slightly that a normal man would not have noticed it. The stranger, however, was a trained expert in- among other things- body language and speech patterns. Both spoke of hastily disguised fear. "I have your supplies." the tweed man said, bringing a small rectangular package wrapped in nondescript brown paper out and presenting it to the shadowy man.

Wordlessly he reached out and took the package, opening it and inspecting its contents. "Yes, this will do quite nicely. Thank you." He turned away as if to walk off.

"Wait!" the tweed man cried. "What about my payment?" The shadowy man turned, white teeth glinting in the dark. With a shiver, the tweed man realized that the shadowy man's teeth were pointed. Not one or two like a vampire, but all of them, like… something else.

"Ah, yes… That." He said ominously and clicked his fingers. Something dark leapt out of the shadows, but remained cloaked in them as it fell upon the tweed man. Seconds later, all that was left were a few fragments of clothing and a slightly bloodstained fedora. The shadowy man turned and walked into a patch of shadow, and was gone when he should have emerged from the other side.

"Mommy! Daddy! Come quick!" Ayui's shriek reverberated deafeningly inside the house. They both rushed into the front room, panic on their faces as they imagined what could possibly be wrong. The dad, Ryan, skidded around the corner first and stopped in wonder at the brand new Pokemon lying in his daughter's lap. The mother, Sasha, was hot on his heels.

Ayui was holding the baby Pokemon, which couldn't have been more than half a foot tall and skinny as a twig. Its body was white; vaguely humanoid with a green cap of sorts on top of its head. Two rounded red horns of a sort protruded through this, and seemed to slightly bend the space around it in an almost imperceptible way. The two parents glanced at eachother and then shrugged. It was a Pokemon. How complicated could caring for it be?

Very complicated, as it turned out. The local Pokemon expert, a Professor Montressor, determined the Pokemon to be a Ralts, a type of psychic Pokemon. The Professor explained that this could be a very tricky Pokemon to raise; its horns were physically perceptive and as such picked up stray thoughts and emotions. It was such a developed Pokemon that it could pick up human speech in telepathy and exhibit human behaviours.

And as such, the Ribusakis decided that instead of being raised as a pet, the Ralts would be raised as another child. They took care of it for the critical first week out of the egg, with Ayui constantly watching it and staying near it. She told no one of how it had spoken to her- it hadn't done so since and felt special.

The baby Ralts matured quickly. Within the first month of it being around, it had progressed from infant to toddler stage, which consisted of the Ralts sitting around and lifting things with its mind. One morning it even lifted the entire table a few inches, sending everything on it crashing to the ground. The Ribusakis quickly decided to begin training the Ralts' psychic prowess.

Ayui insisted that she had to do it, since she was the one who'd found Ralts. She spent over a week doing almost nothing but reading and studying everything she could about psychics and everything to do with them; she even tried to read a college textbook that had been her dad's way back when. Finally, with her head positively bursting with information, she took the Ralts out into the backyard.

"Okay, Ralts!" She said excitedly. "Are you ready to begin?" The Ralts blinked once. Ayui took this to mean yes. "Alright! Now,I'm going to set this block down on the ground." She set a small black cube on the ground. "Can you lift the cube?" The Ralts slowly looked from her to the cube. Ayui demonstrated, picking up the cube and putting it back down exaggeratedly. The Ralts blinked again- and the cube lifted about an inch off of the grass, wobbling in midair. Ayui clapped excitedly, offering the Ralts a Rare Candy as a treat.

The training proceeded like this for a week before the Ralts mastered moving one object smoothly. Then came moving multiple objects in the next week, which took Ralts two whole weeks to master. Then came more and more, such as moving large objects, controlling them and sending them in complex patterns, rotating things and deflection. This whole process occupied the rest of the year for them, with an hour of practice a day. Over this time the Ralts reached its full size of 1'4" and weighed in at a whopping 14.6 pounds. As Ayui turned 11, Ralts could help around the house as ably as any of them. A frequent sight in the household were dishes, water and soap all floating around scrubbing while Ralts hummed in its mysterious childlike tone.

Half a year passed before Ralts began to attempt communication. It was sensitive to others emotions, and developed an idea of what they were off of that. It was careful and methodical in its first attempt, projecting a clumsy empathy of happiness to Ayui while they were on a walk. Ayui was startled by this at first, and it continued to be unnerving until Ralts finally mastered the skill. Its control, however; was lacking, and occasionally it would project when it was trying to hide its feelings.

Ayui and Ralts frequently took walks around the woods, parks, and any outdoor area they could find- the small psychic was intensely curious and loved adventure. It positively radiated happiness when frolicking in the waves (which often knocked the little Pokemon on its rear) or investigating some hidden grove. Curiously, it displayed a deathly terror of bird Pokemon. Ayui thought that this might have had something to do with when that Swellow had tried to eat it in its egg.

As to its behaviour, the Ralts was very shy among strangers and reserved even in the company of family. It hesitated to join in on activities and hid behind Ayui or her mother when guests came. It only seemed comfortable when it was alone with Ayui, and even then when it was indoors. It was a small Pokemon, unnerved by a big world.

Eventually, the Ralts began to wander out on its own. This alarmed the Ribusakis, and Ayui tried in vain to keep it indoors when she was not home. Ayui began to talk about going on longer trips, seeing more of the world. Ralts responded to these thoughts with emanations of happiness.

One day they were out walking, Ayui bouncing along and Ralts trailing alongside, twirling a twig in the air. They happened across a poster taped to a tree- a picture that showed a Trainer and a Charmander leaping into action with a Pokeball in hand, captioned "Looking for Adventure? Become a Pokemon Trainer!" Ayui glanced at it and kept walking. She strode a few steps before she realized Ralts wasn't beside her. Puzzled, she looked back to see Ralts staring at the poster, eyes wide. A curious emotion was emanating off of it- What was that? Curiousity? Wonder?

Longing! That was it. Ayui could see now that the place Ralts wanted to be more than anywhere was on the road. She'd been thinking about becoming a trainer for some time now, ever since Ralts had begun to wander off on its own. She thought about it and came to a decision- once she turned twelve, she and Ralts would hit the road. She shared this with Ralts, who nodded happily, knocking several apples off of a nearby tree with rogue psychic concussive force.

The future awaited.

Ribusaki Household

Ryan Ribusaki cast a quick glance around to ensure nobody was around. Ayui was out with Ralts and his wife was shopping, so he was in the clear. He flicked on the computer monitor and carefully typed in a second account name- one he used for one purpose. The monitor loaded, showing a shield and sword crossed in the background. No icons were present.

A little winking mail icon sprouted in the center of the screen. He clicked on it, and it opened up to a videoconference window. His own webcam winked on, scanning his retina and confirming it was him. The picture snapped on to reveal a slightly overweight man with shocking red hair.

"Have you heard?" The man asked bluntly, foregoing manners for urgency.

"I have," Ryan responded. "Sixteen agents killed over the past two years."

"Nineteen," The ginger corrected. "Another three found dead this morning. Three of the best fighters I ever saw, too. Whoever this guy is, he moves fast and he's deadly." Ryan rubbed his temples, thinking hard. The Agency had made a lot of enemies, but nobody like this was on any of their lists.

"What's he after?" Ribusaki said. "Revenge? Money?"

"Information. The data crystals were all gone on them. You still have yours?"

"Of course." No agent ever parted with the crystals. It was literally a matter of life or death.

"This guy could be coming after you next. His pattern in moving in your direction. I'd secure that intel ASAP."

"Affirmative. I'll see if I can't lay down a few false trails as well. Let's see if he can beat me," he said, logging off and shutting down the computer after running a standard purge of any files stored during the conversation. That done, he reached into his shirt and took out a small, turquoise and opaque crystal. He peered into its murky depths.

"Now what to do about you?"


	2. Chapter 2: The Plot Thickens

**Warning: Lemons in this chapter. As a new friend and fellow author of mine says, Clean your Keyboards.**

Ayui had broken the news to her parents the next week. Her mom had understandably freaked out, but her dad seemed oddly okay with it. He even talked her mother into it, and bought Ayui a backpack and a few Pokeballs. Her twelfth birthday was still a month away, and she needed to get some practice battling in in case she and Ralts encountered danger along the way.

Ralts, as a psychic type, wasn't a terribly offensive battler. Its repertoire was made of mostly moves to taunt and dodge the enemy, wearing down his stats, or to escape the battle entirely. To that end, Ayui and Ralts practiced rapid site-to-site teleports which Ralts had only recently begun to attempt. At first, it could only move a rock a few feet, but it had a massive breakthrough and was fully capable of teleporting itself and Ayui up to a quarter mile at a time, though to great expense of energy that usually left Ralts near or at unconsciousness.

The morning of the day before she turned 12, they were practicing throwing rocks using telekinesis when a gigantic Ratticate lumbered into their little clearing. Three feet tall when standing and easily weighing a hundred pounds, it had beady red eyes and sharp fangs coming out of a rabidly foaming mouth. It snarled, leaping at Ayui.

Bang! With a sonic boom a chunk of rock the size of her head shot at the Raticate, sending it flying several feet back with a sickening wet thump. Ayui was thrown to the side and trees were stripped of their leaves in a circle around them as Ralts stood trembling, boulders pinwheeling in the air around its head and anger radiating off of it like a storm. With a mental shout, the diminutive pokemon ripped trees and boulders out of the ground around it, sending them hurtling towards the prone form of the Raticate and burying it under an avalanche of wood and stone.

Ayui cracked an eye open, squinting at the suddenly too-bright sunlight. She heard several loud crashes and then a deafening silence. She was dazed- What had just happened? She remembered the Raticate, she remembered seeing it leap at her- but past that, there was nothing. She slowly sat up, groaning at fresh bruises all along her back. She felt a small, fingerless hand gently touch her in the side, and she looked down to see Ralts standing there eerily still. Ayui took the arm and drew Ralts in close, comforting it.

"What just happened, Ralts?" She said quietly. She looked around, spying the huge pile of devastation with wide eyes. "Did you do that?" she said in wonder. Silently, Ralts nodded. Ayui couldn't believe it- and neither could the news reporters, who had seen the battle from afar and came running. Years afterwards, people would tell the legend of the Ralts who'd ripped out a mountain. But nobody believed it.

Later that day, Ralts came down with an odd sickness. It was wracked by shakes and tremors. A worried Ayui tucked Ralts in and woke up the next day to find a Kirlia.

Kirlia's horns had moved to the sides of its head, and part of its green cap extended down so it looked like hair. Its white body peeled off at the waist to look like a tutu, with delicate green legs coming out underneath. All told, the evolution had gained it a new height of 3'7" and almost thirty pounds. It was now a little more than half Ayui's height.

Afterwards, Ayui had always remarked with a smile how great it was that Ralts had evolved on her birthday- what a coincidence that was, and on the eve of their departure too! They had one last, tearful lunch with her parents- her mother openly weeping at one point with her dad sitting there, lost in thought with a small, sad smile on his face.

You wouldn't have known it, but he was thinking of when he left his parent's home. He'd been sixteen, caught up in the fervor of patriotism that had gripped the land; he went to work for the military, where he put in two years of academy and was deployed to the front. That departure had been a good deal less emotional than this one- his parents still hadn't forgiven him for doing it.

Finally, the time came for them to say goodbye. Ayui's mother wrapped her in a tearful embrace before her father pulled her off to the side.

"Ayui, I want you to have something," he said, pulling out a beautiful silver pendant with a turquoise gem mounted in it. "This has been in the family for years, being passed on as each generation leaves the house they were born in to start their own life. It always brought me luck, and I hope it can do the same for you and Ral- Kirlia," he corrected himself with a half-smile. "You kids grow up so fast. Now, you better get going." Ayui reverently took the pendant.

"Thanks, dad," She said, wrapping her arms around him. She bade goodbye and stepped out the door, squaring her backpack on her shoulders and smiling at Kirlia beside her. "Let's get going!"

Veridian Forest

The grizzled veteran shouldered his rifle, scanning left to right in a slow, cautious manner. He was hunting the most dangerous game- a man. He motioned with his hand for the rest of the squad to move up. He grimaced as he heard the snap of twigs and the crunch of dry leaves, the sound deafening. It sounded like a herd of elephants moving through the forest.

The men moved slowly, constantly scanning with overlapping fields of fire. It was forest, a dense forest; and ambush was always a possibility. Private Saysan was on one of the most dangerous duties- rear guard. Attack almost always came from either the behind or the front in this formation, so the rear guard spent a lot of time facing backward. He would kneel and raise his rifle, covering the rear while the column moved up before he received a "Clear, move up." Upon hearing this he would turn around and rejoin the column, walking to about the middle of the line and turning again to cover them.

It was during one of these snatches of facing backwards that we find the Private. He slowly scanned back and forth, seeing nothing but feeling an overwhelming sense of danger all of a sudden. Shrugging, he heard his headset radio gawk and turned around, running into a tall man. His rifle was up instantly, but a hand caught his rifle and yanked it from his grip. another hand came and the man calmly bent the superhardened steel, tossing the wrecked rifle off to the side. Saysan scrambled backwards, his eyes fixated on the looming apparition. The man that stood before him had ash-gray skin and blood-red eyes. He smiled and Saysan saw a mouth full of pointed teeth. He slowly pressed a finger to his lips, then waved a hand over the Private, wrapping him in shadows until he knew no more.

Corporal Hollinger was in the middle of the column. He didn't know anything was wrong until he turned to make a remark to his men- they weren't there. Sighing, thinking they probably wandered off, he didn't halt the column but rather called out on the squad channel. He got nothing but static back. Now he was worried. His shotgun, a blunderbuss called Bessie, came up and pointed into the brush. He squinted into the shadows- Was that a…

He never knew what hit him as a tentacle of writhing darkness shot out and pierced his heart. He died instantly, his finger tightening on the trigger but not pulling it as he fell to the dirt.

Someone ahead of him in the column heard the heavy thunk of his weapon and turned around to see a horrifying, vaguely human but definitely supernatural thing rushing towards him. Screaming, he raised his rifle and fired, the bullets doing nothing as whatever it was passed clean through him. Later, the autopsy would find no discernable thing wrong with him- apart from the fact that he was dead.

The others in the column heard the gunfire and whirled around, guns blazing at the thing. Tentacles whipped out from around it, from the shadows under the trees, from under a rock, from anywhere, and the forest was transformed into a nightmare of blood and gunfire. The highly trained military men didn't stand a chance. Too soon, the forest stood silent. The forest kept its secrets well.

Ribusaki Household

"The death toll of this mysterious killer continues to rise as the military force sent to apprehend him was reported missing this morning near Viridian City in Kanto. Local commanders are not available for comment at this time.

"In other news, the factory outside of Goldenrod City has reported that a registered aircraft has been stolen. Authorities are unconvinced the two incidents are related." Ryan muted the news channel, musing over what he had heard.

"Ten will get you twenty it's that killer," He said grimly, lying on his bed propped up against the headboard. His gloriously naked wife stirred next to him, turning off the TV and straddling him, her perfect breasts in his face. He smiled at the sight, pulling her down against him and kissing her.

"Mmm…" She said, pulling back slightly as he played with her breasts; gently squeezing them and rubbing his thumbs over her nipples, eliciting a shiver out of her. "We're gonna have to go on the run soon, aren't we?" She moaned softly as his tongue flicked her right nipple.

"Definitely," He said. "A shame, too. I liked this house." His boxers now sported a large bulge, and she giggled as she felt it press against her stomach.

"It won't be that bad," She said, reaching down and rubbing his throbbing bulge through his boxers. "Without Ayui around, we can get into a lot more… trouble." Her smirk was the most suggestive and sexy thing he'd ever seen her do, and it made his bulge strain even more against the thin fabric.

"I've never agreed with you more, dear." His head leaned back as she slipped his boxers down, grasping his cock in her hand and pumping slowly. She loved his cock- it wasn't too big but seemed to fit her perfectly. It was so sensitive and throbbed in her hand as she shimmied back and slowly ran her tongue around its head. He moaned, making her smile triumphantly and take the rest of his length in, using her tongue, throat and even teeth in a combination designed to bring Ryan and Ryan only to his knees with pleasure.

He moaned loudly, pulling her off of him and crushing his mouth to hers as his hands found her thighs, parting them and lifting her over his cock, rubbing at her dripping wet entrance. This time it was she who moaned, her nails digging into her back. "Well what are you waiting for?" She demanded.

It was enough for him. He plunged into her, feeling how wet and tight and hot she was inside. She cried out, riding him for all he was worth as their lovemaking intensified. Faster and faster, harder and harder until the tip of his shaft barely kissed her womb, sending her flying into a crashing, howling orgasm, her pussy clamping around his cock and causing him to yell out and pour his thick seed into her.

She collapsed on top of him, and his arms wrapped around her as they rode out the orgasmic throes together, kissing passionately. "I love you," He whispered, and she whispered it back. They had come from vastly different backgrounds and had vastly different personalities, but there was one thing they had in common- love. Both of them loved the other above all else, and they knew it. One of their favorite sayings was "Amor Vincit"- Love Conquers.

Miles away, Kirlia paused in its step and cocked its head. It had picked up a random transmission, from far away but powerful nonetheless- Amor vincit.

The Pokemon continued to ponder this as it continued on its path.


	3. Chapter 3: Things Go South

**Warning: This Chapter is very graphic for the first part. **

Streetlamps flickered on as evening reared its dark head. The glorious sun slowly sank beneath the horizon, sending a few last golden, sparkling rays of light down before it disappeared and darkness reigned. Something stirred in the shadows, its movements murky and indistinct before it stepped into the fuzzy circle of light cast down by the streetlamp.

Illuminated, a tall, dark-haired man stood there. His skin was a pasty white and his eyes were hidden under sunglasses- an oddity at night. His lean, angular body was hidden under a leather jacket and pants. His face had a haughty, cruel sense about it; and looked just wrong, like it didn't belong in this world.

Which, of course, it didn't. The man took off his sunglasses, revealing eyes the color of blood that had a harsh, ethereal glow about them. He smiled, his mouth full of sharp Carvanha-like teeth. Dark veins began to snake out from his eyes, slowly turning his skin into a dark ash-gray color. His hair slowly lost all color, becoming bone-white. As the night came on, so did he.

He laughed, the sound guttural and terrifying. He turned to face the house that contained his target. This one was supposed to have a wife and daughter. He would derive immense pleasure from killing them both. Concentrating, he erected a solid barrier of darkness around the perimeter of the house. It wouldn't do for the prey to escape.

Still laughing in anticipation of a bloodbath, the thing walked up the front path and straight through the Dark Wall. He drew near to the door and knocked on it softly. Hearing no answer, he kicked the door off of its hinges. The hallway was completely dark. Everything looked normal- photographs hung on the walls, and shoes were even lined up by the door in anticipation of the next day. He slowly counted them- Six shoes. Three pairs. Perfect.

He raised his arm and a blood-like substance began to flow off of him, dripping onto the floor and giving off a hellish red glow. Slowly walking, he spread the stuff about the entire house. It was toxic to mortals and played hell with their vision. Touching it led to hallucination. Ingestion would lead to death. He cleared the kitchen, living room and dining room. Nobody there. He mounted the stairs, noticing that they creaked very loudly. Perhaps the one who lived here wasn't such a fool after all. He might even put up a fight. He loved it when the prey put up a fight. It made them so much tastier.

He walked down the upstairs hallway, coming to a door that could only have belonged to a little girl, painted pink and covered as it was in smilies. He smirked, placing his hand on the knob and creeping inside, cackling demonically as he came and saw- an empty room. He stopped in his tracks, sweeping the space with his night vision. Nothing. The room was empty. He wrenched out drawers, overturned the bed. Clothes were gone. Belongings were gone.

Angry now, he blew out the wall and howled, blowing out the door to the other bedroom. Same story. Empty room, missing belongings. He had missed the slammed his fist into the wall, rampant energies firing out and laying waste to the house. He opened his jaws wide and sprayed crackling hellfire all over the room. He dropped the Dark Wall and destroyed the entire front face of the house in a rippling blast of darkness.

He left the rubble and ashes of the house to burn themselves down as he hopped lightly down to the ground from the second story. He wanted to destroy, to kill, to bathe in his enemies blood. He might not be able to get the prey, but the nearby town would suffice for the moment. Raising his arms, he conjured an army of snarling Houndours out of the shadows, raised and bred by himself. They could run faster and kill better than any living thing on the planet- save himself, of course. But they had nearly as much bloodlust as he did.

Smiling again, he descended upon the town.

Unidentified Village, Near Ribusaki Household

Whump. The first fireball landed on a warehouse for kerosene. It went up like a torch. Whump. Whump. Whump. The police and fire stations were the next to be hit, burning many where they lay. Whump. Whump. City Hall went up. By this time, people were running out of their houses, watching in horror as huge balls of fire rained down from the heavens. Any and all who had water Pokemon rushed towards the fires. From the quickly burning ruins of the fire station came lumbering the station's pair of fifty-year old Blastoise, who had merely shrugged off the fire and began pumping immense amounts of water into the conflagration.

The Houndour hit as the people were beginning to combat the fires. The first few victims went down unnoticed, but one scream quickly became many under the rush of claws and teeth. Now, all Pokemon came out to fight this new menace, but most were easily overpowered. Only the large and defiant ones could combat them, such as one Garchomp, who lumbered through the wreckage of its former home and laid into the newcomers with blade and bite. Even some of the wild Pokemon joined into the fray, lumbering Ursarings and flying Charizards crashing through the forest with terrible battle cries.

Some people fled the fight, but most found themselves suddenly caught up in a battle for their homes as they grabbed whatever they had on hand- shotguns, rifles and at least one baseball bat, and began pouring their wrath into the enemy. The once-peaceful neighborhoods now resembled warzones, fire and smoke everywhere.

It was into this battlefield that the demon-man waded. He was now in his battle-form- his legs had lengthened and thickened until they resembled solid ebony tree trunks. His arms were like telephone poles, his fingernails sharpened until they cut through concrete and mesh as easily as flesh and bone. His eyes had gone from blood-red to an unearthly, glowing blue.

All who saw him fled before his wrath. Those who did not flee, he devoured, scooping them up and tossing them into his mouth where the fires of hell burned. Before long, he had the remaining defenders of the town on the run, firing wildly over their shoulders as they ran away.

Mysteriously, by sunrise the demon and his army were all gone. All that was left were the smoldering ruins of the once beautiful town.

Miles Away, on Route 101

"Unbelievable," Ayui said, looking at the pocket map she carried around. "Our city isn't even on the map, Kirlia!" Kirlia shook its head in wonder. Ayui shrugged and put the map away. "At least it looks like we're on track. Route 101 to Oldale Town. I wonder how mom and dad are doing?" She glanced back down the way, then did a double take.

A huge column of thick, black smoke rose, visible from at least five miles away as they were. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth as she stared at the sight. Kirlia turned and looked as well, picking up the alarm coming from Ayui. It half-closed its eyes, trying to see across the distance to the town. Its far-sight was still blurry, but the images that it did receive disturbed it greatly. It hid them from Ayui in an attempt to protect her.

"Kirlia, can you teleport both me and you back to the town?" It shook its head. Not without exhausting itself beyond repair. It could, however, easily teleport just itself the distance and back without too much trouble. It shared this idea with Ayui. "Would you be able to find me again?" She asked, worried. Kirlia ran off into the woods and reappeared at her side, nodding. It was bonded to her and knew where she was at any time. "Alright, Kirlia- go!" Ayui sat down against a tree trunk, staring at the smoke. Kirlia closed its eyes and when it opened them, it found itself standing in the middle of a blackened street. To its left lie the ruins of the fire station; to its right the remains of City Hall.

People wandered the devastation, alone or in small groups. All of them had large, glassy eyes and shell shocked looks on their faces. There was dried blood everywhere, but thankfully the corpses were burned beyond all recognition. Some of them didn't even look human. Kirlia shuddered and continued deeper into the town, gazing around in horror. A pair of huge, lumbering Blastoise still dug around in some of the collapsed houses, putting out the remaining fires and looking for survivors.

Kirlia ran up to the Blastoise, suddenly shy despite the surroundings. One of them turned, its old and wise eyes fixing on the tiny Pokemon. "Blas?" It asked, speaking the language of the Pokemon which they seemed to be able to understand somehow. Kirlia did not speak- instead, it reached out to the Blastoise mentally. _What happened here?_ it said.

The Blastoise's thoughts sounded slow and deep._ Big demon man, came to town. Fire and fighting everywhere. Many dead. Much broken._ With that, it turned back to where it was digging and resumed looking. With a shrug, Kirlia joined them, lifting some beams out of the ruin and turning away as the scent of burned flesh wafted up from the recesses.

Kirlia continued on, witnessing more scenes like that. In one case, a recently orphaned Pichu ran up to Kirlia, clutching its leg and crying pitifully. Kirlia picked it up mentally and comforted it, lifting it up so it could clutch to its back. It walked on. Eventually, it crested the hill that it and Ayui lived on, and was met with the sight of a half-destroyed house.

Firemen had gotten to it in time, and only the front half was burned out. The rear half looked to be completely intact. Kirlia sifted through the ruins for a bit, finding only a backpack that Ayui had worn when she was about six years old. It put it on reverently, well aware that this was part of its trainer's legacy. After finding nothing more but ensuring there were no bodies in the wreckage, it transported itself and the now-sleeping and exhausted Pichu back to Ayui.

Ayui sprang up from the ground, running and hugging Kirlia tight. "What did you fi- Who's this?" She asked, seeing the Pichu in confusion. Kirlia broadcast an image of the Pichu wandering around, lonely and sad. Ayui picked up the palm-sized Pichu, tucking it close to her and petting it gently. "What did you see in there, Kirlia?" She asked, looking from the dirty, soot-stained Pichu to that dark column of smoke.

Kirlia shook its head, and shakingly sent the first words it had ever said to Ayui. _Your mom and dad are safe. Beyond that… You don't want to know._ Ayui looked at Kirlia interestedly, then shook it off. "Why not?" Kirlia just shook its head, a great sadness coming over it. Ayui sighed and hugged Kirlia again. "As long as mom and dad are safe."

She stood up, still holding the Pichu. She heard an odd noise and leaned in closer- the diminutive Pokemon was snoring. She smiled in spite of herself and took out a Pokeball, opening it carefully and almost dropping it as the Pichu lit up and flew into the ball. It made a *click* noise as it caught the Pichu. Ayui tucked the ball back into her pack.

Kirlia watched the whole process interestedly. _Are you going to put me in one of those?_ It asked. Ayui looked at it and smiled. "Nope," she said, and walked on. Kirlia ran after her, reaching up to put its hand in Ayui's. The young girl took it, smiling. They walked on.

Suite, on board the S.S. Titan

"Reports are coming in that a city on the west coast on the Hoenn Region has been attacked and burned to the ground. The death toll is massive, totalling well over a hundred people and consuming over three million worth in damages. The survivors are left homeless and with nothing left. Relief efforts are underway, and the roads are clogged with people evacuating the surrounding areas…" The Ribusakis sat horrified in their queen-sized bed in the luxurious cabin. Ryan stared at the screen with a hard expression, a vein pulsing in his temple while Sasha wept silently.

Ryan swung his legs out of bed. "Where are you going?" Sasha asked, knowing all too well the answer to her question.

"You know where I'm going."

"Then I'm going with you," Sasha said determinedly.

"No!" Ryan said, aghast. "It's far too dangerous, I won't allow it. Besides, do you even kno-" In the blink of an eye he found himself staring down the barrel of a top-notch derringer. The hand holding it didn't waver in the slightest. His gaze went from the blank stare of the derringer to the small, sexy smile on his wife's face. Wordlessly, she safed the derringer and tucked it in her bra, hiding it between her ample breasts.

"Fine, you can come." Sasha ran at him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "But only because that was the sexiest thing I've ever seen."

Shasha smirked. "Is that a handgun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" She asked in a seductive voice.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Now you definitely know the answer to that," he said, pushing her onto the bed.

Ayui's Campsite, Route 101

Ayui listened horridly to the same broadcast her parents had heard over her pocket radio. Tears came into her eyes as the destruction was detailed. Kirlia stood nearby the whole time, feeling miserable because it couldn't help. Sadly, it went over to hug Ayui's form as the little girl cried for the first time in at least two years. Eventually, she was all out of tears and clutched Kirlia close to her. "All gone," she said, sniffling. "The Hall, the grocery store, Asper's house…" She buried her head in Kirlia's hair-like stuff.

"Your hair smells good," she said giggling, her emotions out of whack. Her smile faded as the tragedy came back into mind. She stayed up late that night, eventually lighting a fire with the Pichu's help. He screwed up his cute little face and sparked, the electricity jumping to the campfire and lighting it off. Ayui patted its head affectionately. "Thanks, little buddy."

Fire has a marvelous effect on the human soul. When watching a fire, time seems to slow, and a person's thoughts are much slower but also much clearer. When under the influence of a fire, people have thoughts they wouldn't normally have, and many more of them. Even a simpleton may find himself debating the mysteries of the universe when staring at a fire.

"I think I'm gonna miss the house most of all," Ayui finally spoke around midnight. "And Asper… She was such a good friend, even though I haven't seen much of her recently. That one time she threw water balloons at our neighbor's Charmander…" She smiled wistfully. Asper had been Ayui's best friend for a while, even though she was older. Age differences hadn't really mattered in the small town. Asper was a free spirit- rough and dirty, doing whatever she darn well pleased regardless of what her parents or anyone else had said. She had sworn more than anyone else she'd known at the time. Eventually, Asper had moved on to other things, and their paths walked apart. Last she'd heard, Asper was in trouble for "gross misconduct in a public place", and she'd inquired no more.

Eventually, Ayui sank into an exhausted slumber, the Pichu and Kirlia tucked up beside her. Her sleep was so deep that she didn't notice when another person stumbled across her campsite. She didn't notice as another person came up behind the first person, shouting and giggling before being shushed by the first person.

The first person had been a man, averagely built and special by no means. The second was a woman, a little taller than average with very large breasts. Both were sooty and their clothes were torn ragged. The woman kept close to the man, her flowing red hair matted and dirty.

"Say, she looks familiar," The man whispered. They both leaned in to look closer.

"That's Ayui!" The woman exclaimed. "She must have left town before… You know. She looks fine, and she's got some pokemon. Let's keep moving. My sister has a place in Slateport." She tugged at his arm, and he reluctantly kept going. They were long gone by the time Ayui woke up in the morning.

S.S. Titan, Main Deck.

Ryan and Sasha were preparing to depart the boat in a much smaller gunboat called the Lucy. Sasha was in the bathroom last-minute, probably either doing her hair or hiding more weapons on her person. He knew she had at least two pistols and a throwing knife, but she wouldn't tell him where she had hid the knife- She had merely winked at him and told him to be careful in bed.

He had his suspicions.

Ryan himself was hunched over a map, plotting their course to the next Region. He sported black polymer body armor and had a large, powerful rifle slung on his back, with a KwikScope 10x Rifle Zoom Sight and silencer attached. It was less of a lineman's weapon than a badass assassin weapon.

"Ryan Ribusaki?" A voice said from behind him. He turned to see the wide barrel of a derringer pointed at him for the second time that day. He heard a gunshot.

**Things have certainly heated up, now haven't they? Followers, I'm looking for Beta readers. PM if interested.**


	4. Chapter 4: Old Friends, New Beginnings

The new day found Ayui and Kirlia on the path that led into Oldale Town. Ayui's eyes had a vacant, glassed-over look that concerned Kirlia greatly. The diminuative Pokemon worried about her quite a bit. The Pichu was still sleeping, snoring gently with only his head poking out of Ayui's backpack. Kirlia spotted a cafe, and gently nudged Ayui in its direction. She walked slowly into it, the door dinging, announcing the presence of a new, paying customer. The lady behind the counter, who had been grumbling over the slow day's business, was suddenly all smiles.

"Hello, young lady!" She said, her smile too wide and too bright to be entirely natural. "What can I get you?"

"Oh, shut up," a raspy old voice said. A bun of grayed hair poked up above the counter, followed by a wrinkled yet kindly old face. "Can't you see she's exhausted? Go make her a special, cut a little loose on the caffeine and add a dash of vanilla- on the house," she added, causing the younger woman to stomp away, grumbling about the "old bat." "I heard that!" The old lady called after her, then turned to Ayui. "Sorry about that, dear. That was just my daughter. I raised her good, but working in lil ol' gramma's coffee shop is startin' to wear on her. I'll blend a Pokeblock for your Kirlia and the cute lil Pichu in the back. You just sit down right over there and I'll be with you in a mo'." Overwhelmed, Ayui didn't protest as she was led to a table, sat down and given one of the most delicious coffees she'd ever had, followed by what tasted like the best pastry in the universe.

She ate and drank ravenously, having had no idea that she was this hungry or thirsty. Finally she came up for air, and her eyes fixed on the old lady. "Thank you very much!" Ayui said. "How can I repay you?" The old lady put up a slightly trembling hand, wrinkled and spotted with age.

"No need. I'm doing the same for all the survivors of that horrible attack. You didn't see it, though, did you dearie?" she said, her old blue eyes twinkling slightly. Ayui, taken aback slightly, stammered out a no.

"I left just before it happened, and I never saw it. Kirlia did, though," she said, pointing at the Pokemon and patting its head gently. "Kirlia won't tell me exactly what it saw." The old woman's gaze switched from the girl to the Pokemon, and something seemed to pass between them.

"And rightly it won't," She said. "Such things are not for the eyes of the young ones- or anyone's eyes, if they can help it. Anyway, where are you staying for as long as you'll be here?" Ayui scratched her head. She hadn't really thought of that.

"I don't really know, I guess," she said. "I was just going to camp outside like I did when I was on the road."

The old woman tittered. "Not while in my town, you won't! Tell you what. My great-niece is in town, staying in our summer cabin with her boyfriend. I'll get you hooked up with them right away. Her name's Asper, and her boyfriend's Steven- What is it, dear? Are you alright?" Ayui's mouth had dropped open in shock.

"Asper's alive!?" She exclaimed. "AND SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND!? Where are they I need to go talk to her right now oh my god!" She was positively bouncing on her feet to go and talk to her old friend, and meet this boy toy of hers. She bet he was hot. And he was probably a bad boy, because Asper was a bad girl. That was hot too. Maybe they did bad things together! But not too bad, she hoped. Because Asper was really at heart a nice person and didn't deserve to go to jail.

Her thoughts continued to bounce around in that curious way that girl's minds do, following a chain of logic so complex and intertwined that a man would have no chance at all of following it. Ayui and the old lady continued to gossip about Asper's beau for a while before the old one grew tired of it. "Here, whippersnapper," she said, using the term in an absolutely ridiculous way. "Her house is just down Wildberry Way- big old Victorian on the corner, painted the most ludicrous shade of orange I ever saw. You can't miss it!" Ayui thanked the woman and ran out into the street, her startled Pokemon scrambling to get after her.

The house was indeed an old, majestic Victorian-era affair, two-storied and proudly standing tall. In one corner of the house rose, of all things, a turret, with a completely glass dome capping it and an odd-looking ensemble of old glass and brass… devices attached to it. It looked corroded and dusty, as if it hadn't been touched in years. It was painted a bright orange that seemed to shimmer as one approached.

Ayui had the incredible fortune of arriving exactly at sunset. The architect and previous owner of the house, an old inventor famous for his hermit-like ways and sheer brilliance, had built it so that the rays of the sun in decline would strike his glorious building at exactly sunset. It was now exactly sunset, and as the sun lazily sank over the horizon, a spare ray struck the odd glass mechanism attached to the turret. The beam of light bounced around in it before coming out and striking the house in highly specific places.

The house now appeared to be the sun. The orange paint shimmered wildly like fire, blazing gloriously and causing Ayui to stand stock still until darkness began to set it. She shook her head and walked up the path to the House of the Setting Sun.

S.S. Titan, Main Deck

Ryan heard the gunshot and moved blindingly fast. He ducked, sending his leg out and sweeping the assailant's legs out from under him. He wrenched the gun out of his hand, breaking his arm with a sickening snapping sound before kicking him square in the face and drawing his rifle. Breathing hard, he looked down at the man. He was dead. He'd been dead before Ryan had went Rambo on him. He looked up, seeing his wife clad identically to him tucking her derringer back in her bra. He turned over the corpse to see a nice, neat hole drilled in the back of the man's head.

"Talk about beating a dead horse," Sasha called out in jest, despite what she had just seen. She'd known that Ryan had skills he'd learned in the military- she'd just rarely seen him use them. In fact, she remembered only one other instance, when a would-be rapist had jumped them in an alley, thinking the nerdy-looking, slight man would be an easy knock-out.

Ryan had delivered him, bound and gagged, to the door of the police station that very night with a note attached to him: "Hi! I'm a rapist. I jumped a couple in a dark alley and got my ass handed to me on a silver platter. Have a nice night!" They'd laughed about that touch for quite some time, and the rapist had been the joke of the city they'd been in.

Ryan gave Sasha a thumbs up, then gestured to get into the Lucy. "The sooner we're at sea, the less opportunity there is for something like that to happen," he said, settling into a military mindset. "I'll drive, you take first watch." He climbed into the pilot's seat of this most curious craft.

Loaned to Ryan by a high-ranking admiral who owed his life to Ryan Ribusaki, the boat was a top of the line experimental craft. It had a cockpit like a helicopter, with a seat in front for the pilot and a seat behind for the gunner. The ship was equipped with four fully automated fifty-cal machine guns and a larger swivel gun that could be deployed out the top. The whole thing was shaped less like a boat and more like a long knife.

"Sure you don't want me to drive so you can play with your toys?" Sasha asked as she looked at her controls. Ryan flicked a switch, hearing the roar of the engine coming to life.

"I'm sure," he said, pushing the throttle all the way out and sending the gunboat flying over the water. Once they were up to speed, he pressed another button and with a shudder the entire boat raised up on hydrofoils, allowing it to literally slice through the water. The engine was revolutionary in its design, its workings unknown to Ryan. All he knew was this sucker was fast and deadly.

Watch out, killer, he thought. I'm coming after you. He set a course for Johto and the gunboat disappeared over the horizon.

Karucha Household, Twenty Years Earlier

"Tommy! Come and eat or there won't be anything left TO eat!" Her voice resounded up the stairwell, forcing a response of "Yes mother!" from the little boy. Tommy was an odd child- he didn't socialize with any of the other children, and he continually had nightmares about some dark presence in his closet. She also knew he saw things that he told nobody about- dead things. She could see it when his eyes tracked something across an empty room and in the haunted gaze of his eyes.

He came down the stairs finally, well-dressed and impeccably clean as always. He stopped just short of coming all the way down the stairs as if shocked, his eyes looking out the window. His mother's head turned, searching the view outside for something, anything- but she saw nothing. She shrugged and tugged the windows closed. Tommy shook his head and sat down at the table.

"So how was your day, dearie?" His mom asked as they tucked in to the meal she'd made- roast beef, with potatoes generously loaded with gravy. Tommy slowly looked up, his face even paler than usual.

"It was good," He said too quickly. "Look, mom, I think there's… something in the closet." His mother sighed.

"This again, Tommy?" She said, standing up. "We've checked over and over, and there is nothing in that closet. I'll check again if it will make you feel better." Determined, she climbed the stairs to his second-story bedroom and paused. She had a feeling that she couldn't quite lay a finger on, but something felt off. The feeling intensified as she drew near to the closet. The hairs on her neck stood up, and she began to feel an unnatural chill come over her. She could feel eyes on her. Trembling, she reached for the closet handle and threw it open to reveal- nothing. Relieved, she turned around, a "I told you so" dying on her lips as she followed her son's terrified gaze out the window to a set of coldly blazing blue eyes peering in through the second-story window.

Those eyes were all she could see as the lights throughout the house flickered and died.

House of the Setting Sun, Present Day

Ayui tentatively knocked on the orange door. A small peephole spiraled open and a loud, familiar voice was heard on the other side of the door. "Ayui? Ayui Ribusaki? Come on in!" To which a cacophony of bolts and locks opening was heard, accompanied the whole time by muttered swearing. Ayui grinned. Same old Asper!

Finally, the door opened and arms shot out and grabbed Ayui, drawing her tightly to her and crushing her against her ample breasts. Ayui was acutely aware of her friend's wonderfully hard nipples, and struggled a little bit. "Can't breathe!" She got out. "Too much boob!" This sent them both into hysterical fits of laughter. Asper released her and Ayui got her first good look at the girl. She was tall, almost six feet, with the brightest red hair you ever saw. Her breasts weren't skanky but weren't ungenerous, either, and her face wasn't beautiful but pretty with something about it so that when she winked, it was a wink filled with infinite possibility and a slight trace of wickedness. Asper was what could be called a femme fatale- and a darned good one.

"So I heard you got a boyfriend," Ayui whispered conspiratorially once the door was shut and they were walking into the front room. Asper nodded sagely.

"His name's Steven, and-"

"And he's standing right here," a male voice interrupted. The girls both turned to see a man only slightly taller than Asper, averagely built with lightly tousled brown hair. His face was simple and clear-cut, laugh lines already forming around his mouth. Even now, there was a little half-smile about his expression, and his green eyes twinkled with amusement. He was wearing a plain blue t-shirt and jeans, a hoodie thrown over his shoulder. "Hello, Ayui. Haven't seen you in a while. You were that girl who found the egg, right? I hear it's a Kirlia now, and I see a Kirlia behind you!" He smiled and patted the Kirlia on the head. "Anyways, Asp, want to go for a little stroll?" He asked with a wink. Asper coddled up to him.

"But it's dark out," She said. "We might get lost!"

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," He said simply. "Besides, the lights up on Fifth Avenue are all lit up for the Festival, and I hear they're almost as beautiful as you." He grinned at that. Asper pulled him into a kiss by the collar.

"Let's get out of here before I take you right here," she said. He laughed and stepped out the door, tossing the hoodie back to her, calling "I'd have no objections to that!" Back after her. "Oh, Ayui, sorry about this," She said sheepishly. "You have the run of the house, except for the room with a tie on the door. Don't go in there." She gave Ayui another hug and departed out the front door after her boyfriend.

"Nice enough guy," Ayui commented to no one in particular, smiling as she saw Kirlia nod in agreement. "C'mon, let's go explore!" She tore off down the hallway, her Kirlia struggling to keep up but grinning the whole way. The house turned out to be even bigger on the inside, having two master bathrooms with a jet tub and something that looked suspiciously like it was supposed to be a jet shower. It had well over five fully-sized bedrooms with mini-fridges, plasma screen TVs and, of course, the latest Nintendo consoles.

She stopped as she saw the room with a tie on the door. Asper had told her not to go in, but could there really be any harm in doing it? She opened the door and went in. It was a normal bedroom, only with a large webcam assembly in front of the TV facing the bed. The room itself had clothes scattered all over it, pants and skirts alike. Kirlia's head tilted. The clothing on the floor had a pattern to it- the skimpier pieces were closer to the bed while the other parts, like shirts and a few pairs of pants, were on the floor near the door. Why was that?

Ayui went poking around in Asper's drawers next. Most were filled with usual things, but another was padlocked shut. Kirlia closed its eyes and the lock clicked open. So much for that. The contents of this drawer were much more interesting- some very odd clothing. Holding one up to the light, Ayui saw that on Asper this would barely cover anything at all! What was up with that? Digging deeper, her hand found something hard and long. She pulled it out, revealing a long plastic tube with a plug coming out of one end. What on earth was this for? And there wasn't just one in the drawer- there were at least three.

She heard the door open and caught a burst of laughter from the happy couple. Ayui panicked, stuffing the thingy in her pack and hurriedly relocking the padlock. She darted out of the room, accidentally locking Kirlia inside. She cursed, fumbling with the door then releasing it and smiling innocently as Asper came into view.

"There you are!" Asper exclaimed. "What a place, huh? Say, where's your Kirlia?" Ayui stuttered a bit before Kirlia came walking around the corner. She must've transported out just in time, for which Ayui was suddenly relieved. "There it is. So, did you pick a room?" Ayui nodded, pointing to the first one that came to mind- the one next to theirs. Asper and Steven exchanged glances.

"You know what that means," he muttered to her. She shushed him, whispering something about just having to keep quiet. Ayui stared confusedly, having no idea what they were talking about. Kirlia had a sneaking suspicion but kept quiet about it- the little Pokemon was wise before its time. Asper smiled at her.

"Well, we'll just have to get you settled in!" she exclaimed. "There's quite a bit of spare materials lying around here, and Steven here is pretty good with his hands-" She winks suggestively at Steven, who blushes and looks away- "So between him and the locals, we can build ya pretty much anything you could need while you stay here." Ayui thanked her deeply, and told her she didn't know how long she'd be in town.

"That's alright," she said. "Always happy to help an old friend out!" Ayui smiled and then thought of something strange.

"The lady at the tea shop said this was a summer cabin," she said slowly. "It doesn't really look like one to me."

"You should see the winter home," Asper said with a wink. They shared a laugh. It was late, and Ayui was yawning, so she went to bed. As she was unpacking her stuff, she remembered the weird device she'd taken from Asper's room. She shrugged. She'd plumb its mysteries tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5: Innocence Lost

**Warning: Heavy Lemon. Clean your keyboards.**

I always wake up before her. I don't know exactly why- maybe my biological clock is just different, or maybe the rising sun wakes me. Either way, this is my favorite part of the morning. I love how peaceful she looks when she's asleep, and I love the way her flaming red hair falls across her face in just a few strands. I love the way she looks without makeup. When she has her makeup on, she looks beautiful in an otherworldly, almost alien way. But when she's like this, she looks like the most beautiful thing on earth. The unaltered structure of her face, the sheer simplicity of it makes it seem right. The sight of her like this always tugs at my heart.

Asper woke up slowly, the soft light washing around her. Her eyes stay shut for a moment, only the slightest increase in breath giving away that she was in a state of anything but the deepest sleep. Her eyes slowly opened, locking immediately on the sparkling emerald of Steven'. His face was on the same pillow as hers, intimately close, and she smiled as she saw him. She lazily stretched an arm out to caress his abs gently, he brushing the hair out of her face tenderly. Their lips met gently- not a kiss of sexual or passionate intent, but rather one of pure, unadulterated love. Time seemed to stretch, the moment lingering until finally one of them broke it. "We really should be getting up soon," Steven eventually murmured softly.

"The hell we will," Asper replied, and he knew better than to argue with her when she was naked. He had no issue arguing with her when she was fully clothed, but when she was naked she had a tendency to jump on him and fuck his brains out until he agreed with her. So instead he just wrapped his arms around her and drew her close to him.

Ayui had risen even earlier than the happy couple, up and wandering the mansion with Kirlia before six. In the happy rush of discovering Asper was still alive and kicking, there hadn't been much time to think about what had happened to her town. Her parents were alive, but… Where? Why hadn't they tried to contact her? She drew the mysterious crystal pendant out of her shirt. It was sobering to think that this was her only connection to them now. She held the crystal up to the light, but its murky depths held no answers for her. Sighing, she tucked it back against her chest and continued to wander the house.

The Pichu had found himself a little den in the vacant turret on the house. There he sat, cozy in a nest of blankets and sawdust, when something gleaming caught his eye. Curious, he wormed out of his nest and scampered over to find a small telescope. He put it up to his eye, making a small gasping noise as he discovered its purpose- it zoomed in things that were far away! He bit down on it gently, carrying it to the window. He set it down and slowly turned it, looking out at the world. Hills, trees, a house- Wait, what was that? Quickly panning back, Pichu saw a window that was wide open. The room it looked on was a bedroom, and the sole occupant of the bed was a completely naked woman.

Pichu fiddled with the scope, zooming it in more until he could see better. The woman was young, with small, perky boobs that she fondled with one hand as she reclined on the bed, her other hand moving between her legs. Enraptured, Pichu watched with great interest and no small amount of horniness as the woman fingered herself, eventually bringing herself to a climax with a scream rendered silent by distance. Pichu was now very horny, and desperately in need of release. However, Pichus did not develop sexual organs until they evolved into a Pikachu, so he had no way of finding the release he so desperately craved. There was only one thing to do- he had to see more.

Quickly, he worked his way down from the turret and found the nearest air duct. Shooting a small, controlled bolt of electricity, he melted the bolts off of the grate and entered the ducts, scampering around until he found an occupied room. Looking down, he could see that red-headed girl and the tall man in bed together. The redhead was naked, but covered by the blanket. But Pichu was a determined one, and he worked down to the floor vent, quietly and slowly melting that one off and entering the room slowly.

His nostrils perked up as he detected a strange scent. It was all around the room and seemed to be concentrated on the bed. Whatever it was, Pichu found himself excited by the scent, and slowly, carefully climbed up the bed and worked under the sheets. It was dark in here, and he eventually found a leg covered in hair. No, that would be the man, it decided. We want to see the woman. He sidestepped in the dark space until he found another set of legs, these ones smooth and shapely. Now this was what we were looking for!

The legs were pressed together, and that simply wouldn't do. Thinking fast, Pichu cleverly applied a weak electric shock to her leg. She reached down to scratch at the spot but otherwise ignored it. Frowning, Pichu dialed up the power and tried again. A slight jerk of the leg. Pushing it still further, he shocked Asper's leg hard enough to cause her leg to move enough so that he could smell her womanhood. Panting now, the Pichu pressed forward, his tongue reaching out to lap the sweet juices of- empty air? The sheets had been yanked off and Pichu felt a pair of strong hands whisking him away from the prize. He had been so close, so very close! "You're a little pervert, aren't you?" a deep voice said as Pichu was carried to the door. "Well, that one's mine, so you're gonna have to go find your own." The door shut smartly, Pichu deposited on the floor gently.

Shaking his head, Pichu sauntered off slowly, all his pursuits forgotten with the growl of hunger in his stomach.

Gunboat Lucy, Somewhere off in the Ocean

Ryan expertly piloted the craft over, around and through the rough surf. The craft was airborne multiple times, and Sasha held on for dear life the whole time. Ryan slalomed the boat into a particularly rough turn, and her hand slipped, hitting a button and causing a ten-pound explosive shell to be hurtled haphazardly into the distance with an earsplitting roar. She kept her hands off of the controls after that.

After a while, Ryan slowed down and stopped the boat's motor. He stood up and stretched, working out the kinks in his back from sitting for so long, then walked into the aft section, his wife trailing behind him.

"So what's the plan now, hun?" She asked, opening her personal locker and tucking her bra derringer into the locker. Ryan relaxed on a bunk and thought about it, staring at the bleak metal ceiling.

"First, we need to wait until he shows his face again, and then hurry there," he began. "From there, we'll track him and eventually find him. We still don't know what kind of skills he has, or how he managed to take out the town, but…" His voice trailed off as he noticed a hand and a head quietly moving about his nether regions. "That can wait," he said weakly as she set to work.

They were just getting into it when Ryan paused, panting hard and cocking his head to the side. "What?" Sasha said, thrown off by the sudden change of pace.

"Did you just hear an engine?" He said, straining his ears. Sasha sighed irritably.

"Stop being so paranoid and fuck me, damn you!" She left no room for argument, and he gave none. Her folds were in his face as he slowly teased them with his tongue, and then noticed a dark shadow in the doorframe. Not hesitating, he shoved his hand into his wife's pussy, his fingers closing around the sheathed throwing knife she'd stashed. He pulled it out (Sasha screaming in pleasure at the feeling) and drew it, flicking his wrist and sending the blade spinning into the head of the would be attacker. Sasha saw none of this, and he didn't tell her until they were done.

"Hun, you are one cold motherfucker," She told him, her lips warm on his neck. Without Ayui around, both of the Ribusakis had resorted to language they hadn't used in years. Oddly, it felt good. He grinned, gasping softly as she sucked gently on the sensitive spot on his neck. He went limp and his eyes rolled back in his head with pleasure. She was the only person in the entire world that knew where that spot was, and they'd been married for years before he'd told her. But, he reflected, he sure was glad he had.

House of the Setting Sun, 1 year later

A year had passed, but not much had changed around the house. Despite only meaning to stay there for a little while, Ayui and Kirlia had settled down well in the house. Kirlia still yearned for adventure, but it could get enough of a fix in the large, diverse woods around the house. Asper and Steven were still together and still in love (and sleeping together quite often, it must be said), and Ayui had started to socialize with some of the kids around the town that were her age. She'd turned thirteen and Asper had gone out of her way to make it a blowout party, leaving everyone exhausted and place trashed.

Not to say the place was normally clean, persay; Asper especially seemed to leave her clothes all over and there was the usual clutter of things lying around. About once a week, Steven would go through and tidy everything up, mostly cleaning up the evidence of his and Asper's "activities." Asper felt that Ayui was going to learn about these things sometime, and might as well start now, but Steven thought that she was still a little too young to think of such things. Although she was thirteen, and awfully mature for her age. There still hadn't been any word from her parents, but a family friend had dropped by and told them that nobody knew where the Ribusakis were, but the rumor was that they were seeking revenge for the destruction of the town.

Meanwhile, Asper and Steven stepped in as a kind of Aunt and Uncle for her. Asper talked to her about the girly type stuff, like boys and dresses, while she usually went to Steven for life advice. Steven was one of those people who always had a nugget of wisdom for every situation. His knowledge was based partly on folklore, partly on his voracious reading habits and partly on what he had learned while dating Asper, which was a lot more than you would think. This helped to balance out the fact that while Asp and Steven tried their hardest, in the end they were young and inexperienced. The plus side of this was that they could easily keep up with Ayui in sports and good old romping around. It was during one of those sessions that Ayui first gained an inkling of what went on behind closed doors.

Ayui had jumped on Asper and started tickling her, and Steven had ganged up with her. Finally, Steve managed to pin Asper down by sitting on her stomach and holding down her shoulders, calling out "Tickle her feet!" to Ayui. She did, and Asper immediately began to heave with laughter. But, as she kept doing it, Asper's laughter began to get heavier and huskier. Steve looked at her, recognizing the expression on her face, and began to tell Ayui to stop- but it was too late. With a loud scream, Asper's eyes rolled into her head and she jerked convulsively, dampness spreading into her jeans from around her crotch.

Ayui looked up in alarm. "Asp," She said, "Did you just pee yourself?" Steven got off of her and turned to answer her.

"I guess she must've, we just tick-" Here he was interrupted by Asper.

"Shut up, babe. Ayui, that isn't pee. It's juices."

"Juices?" Ayui sounded unconvinced. Steve covered his face with his hands.

"You know what?" He said. "You can tell her. I'm going to go find Kirlia and throw stuff at it." And he did.

"Yes, juices," Asper continued. "You see, the body has a reaction to pleasure where your down-there gets all wet, and the stuff that comes out is called juices."

"I still think you just peed yourself and are trying to cover." Ayui declared staunchly. Asper sighed, unbuttoning her pants and pulling them down in a swift, practiced motion, earning a shocked "Asper!" from Ayui.

"Shut up and watch, and I'll prove it!" Asper practically yelled at her, then began to touch herself. Ayui knew this was wrong, but, well, Asper didn't have any problems with it, so why should she? The sight was fascinating- Ayui hadn't realized how sensitive that place was. It quivered and under Asper's fingers and squeezed slightly and must've felt pretty good, because Asper kept making noises. Eventually she stuffed a pillow in her mouth and stiffened, and a clear fluid leaked out of that place. Ayui wrinkled her nose. That was gross- What if it wasn't any different than pee? It was a different color, but that didn't mean anything. Her opinion changed rapidly as Asper suddenly sat up and jammed her dripping fingers into Ayui's mouth. She struggled for a second and then froze, her eyes widening.

Asper withdrew with a triumphant smile, knowing she had won. "Well?" She said smugly. "Is it pee?" Ayui shook her head rapidly.

"Nope! It tastes really good!" She said enthusiastically. Then an idea struck her, and she looked down at herself. "Can mine do that?"

"Course it can," Asper retorted. "But, well, you don't really want to do that until a little later. Let's make a deal- I'll teach you how when you're sixteen, alright?" Ayui happily agreed, then ran off to find Kirlia and Steven. They were in a hallway, with Steven holding a tennis racket and desperately trying to match Kirlia as it played with its psychic abilities. Kirlia was fully capable of blasting the tennis ball through a wall, but dialed it down for Steve's sake. He still lost.

"You really suck, don'tcha?" Ayui said, coming up behind him. Steven grinned, panting with his hands on his knees and his shirt soaked with sweat.

"Kirls plays a mean game of tennis," He said, straightening up and peeling off his shirt. Asper walked up and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his abs. "How'd your talk go?" He asked. Asper smiled coyly.

"Just great," she purred. "Now come here, my sexy sweaty tennis player." Kirlia looked from Asper to Steven to Ayui, made a split-second decision, grabbed Ayui's hand and teleported them both away just before Asper slammed Steven back against the wall, kissing him and fondling his crotch.

"G-God!" He yelped. "C-Couldn't even make it t-to the room!?" Asper smiled.

"Nope," She said, and fell to her knees.

Just before his eyes rolled up into his head, Steven muttered "What is it with you and sex?" It was a question that wasn't answered out loud.

Meanwhile, Kirlia had teleported itself and Ayui to a nearby clearing in the woods. It was truly a beautiful day- the sun was shining, the grass was as green as could be, and the sky was a light blue with huge, majestic clouds rolling across the sky in the distance. Trees rustled gently in the light, refreshing breeze. The pair simply stood still for a moment, breathing in the fresh air. Then Ayui smiled, releasing Kirlia's hand and flopping down onto the soft earth. Kirlia mimicked her.

"Look, Kirls," Ayui said, staring up at the sky. "That cloud looks sort of like you!" Kirlia's head cocked as it studied the cloud above. Unlikely, it said. The chances of a cloud appearing as I do are almost inconceivable. The resemblance is uncanny, it added hurriedly, seeing the pout on Ayui's face. They both laughed and continued to point out shapes in the clouds. Ayui wondered at how far Kirlia had come- it now presented an intelligent and quick-thinking front, where long ago it had struggled to comprehend even basic emotions. The little Pokemon was now fully capable of understanding even her deepest and best-hidden emotions, as well as the roots and causes of it- Not to say that it totally understood that. Kirlia still constantly asked questions as to why a person was doing the action that they were. A lot of the time, Ayui had no answer. She was only thirteen.

Their little clearing became a place of solitude and escape from the world and its pretty problems. Even in the dead of winter, a bundled up Ayui and Kirlia could be seen walking around, marvelling at the frozen beauty. Kirlia had discovered a new ability as the cold set in- it was able to heat the air in a cocoon around it. Ayui caught on to this and drilled the little pokemon in directing this "heat vision", as she called it, out and around onto things. By spring, Kirlia was able to burn a neat quarter-sized hole through a solid tree trunk. Ayui's fourteenth birthday came, and as a present Kirlia had taken a fist-sized chunk of rock and sculpted it into something beautiful. "Wow, Kirls, you're practically an artist!" The delighted Ayui had said, inspecting it at every angle.

Her first crush happened over that summer. It wasn't anything major, just a little fluttering of her step whenever the guy walked near her. Naturally, Ayui babbled on about him constantly. Noticing this, Asper and Steven came to an agreement and told Ayui that she couldn't date until she was fifteen- One of Asper's rare responsible moments. Ayui continued to crush on various boys over the course of that entire year, as young girls are prone to do.

This had a profound effect on Kirlia that quite confused it. When Ayui talked of her latest boy crush, it felt a weird stirring in its heart- like, some sort of ugly beast lived inside her and woke up whenever they were mentioned. Poor Kirlia had absolutely no reference for this until it went and asked Steven. Steven listened for a while, and then smiled- a small, sad smile. "That's jealousy," He said. "It's not surprising that you'd resent her spending time with other people, since you've been with her for so long. The feelings will go away eventually." Comforted, Kirlia continued about its business, but the feeling didn't go away. Often it wandered by itself late at night, thinking about things in its slow, deep manner.


	6. Chapter 6: Endgame

Near Slateport

"Two guards per tower, four towers, and two of us," Ryan mused. "That's four guards for each of us, and they all have overlapping fields of vision. Factoring in human response time, if we're perfectly synchronized that gives us slightly less than two seconds to do it." Sasha nodded slowly, her own rifle slung comfortably.

"I don't much like those odds. What if we took out the searchlights? There's only four of those- we'd be able to do it easily, and then they can't see." Sasha's idea was, for once, tactically sound. Ryan hummed absently as he thought.

"Alright, let's do it your way." He clicked his shoulder radio. "Squad, be ready to move in on my mark. Shoot to kill and remember- this one's completely off of the books. Nobody gets caught. Got it?" A series of "affirmatives" chorused in over the radio. The men that Ryan had brought to storm this place were the toughest, most grizzled old salts out there, including one named Saysan who'd survived the first attack from the killer. It had taken four years of hunting and tracking the fiend- four years they'd been completely out of touch with their little girl- but now their efforts had finally hit paydirt. They'd tracked and triangulated and whatever the hell it was that Ryan did with his little pencils and maps until they'd found this little warehouse outside Slateport City. It was owned by a company that military accountants had confirmed was a dummy company for something else, but they didn't know exactly what. Equally unknown was the origin of the guards currently stationed at the warehouse. Eager for answers, the military had supplied Ryan and Sasha with whatever they needed for the raid.

And now it was time to make their play. Ryan counted down from three. On three, they pulled their triggers simultaneously, taking out the searchlights and plummeting the guards in the towers into darkness. Cycling the bolt and activating night vision, the pair methodically shot the eight guards. "Go! Go! Go!" Ryan barked into his radio, and chaos ensued as the crack team broke through the front gate and opened up with silenced weapons. The only sound was of a muted cough and various thumps as the bullets found their marks. Within moments, the battle was over and they stood in front of the door, ready to unleash retribution on whatever lay within.

"Men, listen up!" Ryan said, standing in front of the door. "Thanks to this bastard, I'm missing my daughter's sixteenth birthday tonight. So, let's honor her tonight and throw one hell of a sweet sixteen, alright?" The men laughed and cheered. "Remember, anything in that warehouse is fair game. Light em up!" Shouting a battle cry, the men poured into the building. Gunfire immediately started up as the men discovered yet more guards and put them down as well.

Ryan offered an arm to his wife. "Shall we?" He asked, a highly tactical pistol held loosely in his other hand.

"We shall," she answered, a compact submachine gun in hers. Taking his arm, they waltzed into the building and joined the fray. Tonight, they took revenge for the destruction of their town. Tonight, they made it safe to go and be with their little girl. Tonight, they would be ending this thing.

Or so they thought.

House of the Setting Sun

The normally quiet house was awash with lights, people and music on the night of Ayui's sweet sixteen. She'd wanted a small party but Asper had insisted on throwing her a massive bash and apparently had invited the whole town's population on teenagers. Looking around, Ayui had decided that all of them had accepted. Still, she wasn't complaining- there were a ton of cute guys hanging around, and she walked freely among them. Kirlia, meanwhile, loitered on the roof in a patch of shadow. Rather than watch as Ayui flirted with guys, causing that curious throb to bother it, the Pokemon had elected to watch over the party from a distance. Sitting next to it stood a tiny Pichu, perhaps a bit fatter from the past year but still incredibly active. It had a pair of binoculars and was scanning the crowd below.

Meanwhile, Asper stood in the kitchen, which Steven had kicked all of the teenagers out of, mixing drink and muttering swear words under her breath. "Fuckin' kids," She said. "Comin' in my fuckin' kitchen, looking for fuckin' food, I'm gonna kick their goddamn asses…" Steven laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Remember why you did this in the first place," He murmured. Asper shut up, hanging her head and rubbing her eyes.

"You're right." She said. "It's all about Ayui. If her parents can't- or won't- be here for her, we darned well will be. Im sorry." Steve gently touched the side of her face, looking into her eyes.

"It's alright." His gaze lingered for a moment, unfathomable love lingering in the moment before he picked up the latest tray of drinks. "Now, let's get these out to all Ayui's little friends, and let's try to keep the guys off of her, okay?" Asper laughed, rolling her eyes and picking up a tray of her own.

"Please. As if Ayui would let herself be swept up like that." Steven very gentlemanly opened the door for his woman.

"I swept you up, didn't I?"He asked with a small smile that she returned.

"Yes, you did, and you'll be sweeping me up again as soon as this party's over." With that strong piece of innuendo hanging in the air, she disappeared into the seething mass of humanity that had descended upon the house. Steven shook his head, nudging the door shut with his foot.

"That girl," He muttered before dutifully following her into the party.

Down the street a ways, and around a corner or two, there is a nice little convenience store staffed by wonderful people and stocked wonderfully well. It is lit by bright fluorescent lights that completely illuminate the store and make it a shining beacon in the night. In this lighted, extremely visible area, a man stood. He was pale and wore sunglasses, despite the late hour, causing the clerk on duty to suddenly become very, very nervous. His finger lay lightly on the silent alarm hidden below the counter, but he stood politely and waited to see if the man was a customer.

"How many dead?" The man was saying into a small, compact black cell phone. "No matter, they're just humans." The way the man said the word 'human' sent chills down the clerk's spine. "Kill the people that did it and stop bothering me, I've important- Oh, them? Lock them away in dungeon eleven. Kill the rest." He flipped the phone shut and walked out of the store without a glance at the clerk, heading in the general direction of the party. Lifting the phone at the desk, the clerk dialed a number.

"Yes, police?" He said. "There's a highly suspicious man who just ordered somebody to kill someone over the phone headed for that party that's going on today. I think he's armed." The response was immediate at the police station. The local nerd tapped into the store's camera feed, identified the man in the video to resemble the killer, and sounded the alarm. Officers scrambled to squad cars, and a panicked call was made to the city barracks. Sirens started and a fleet of peace officers took off for the House of the Setting Sun, determined to stop him at all costs.

Kirlia paced the roof of the House. It had a wonderfully wide view all around, and it could see quite clearly the flashing blue and red lights in the distance. By this time it had learned to equate that with the police, and when the police were coming that meant there was trouble. Alert, it closed its eyes and examined the area with its mind. Nothing but people, people, and more people. Grimacing, it widened the search area, searching until it found- nothing. Not nothing as in not found anything, but literally found nothing. There was a body, a patch of life, but Kirlia couldn't sense its mind. It was like it had no essence, merely a seething patch of darkness where there should have been a mind.

It quietly teleported to nearby the nothingness, watching from a piece of shadows as the nothing stepped into the light cast by a nearby streetlamp. It appeared to be a man, dark of hair and pale of skin, wearing a long leather coat and sunglasses. With a graceful, fluid movement, the man took off his sunglasses. A faint red glow came from his equally red eyes. Taking off the leather coat revealed a limber, lithe body covered with some sort of dark leather armor. Various sheathes, belts and pouches held all manner of knives, poison darts, shuriken and Arceus knew what else. Grinning, the man headed for the party. Kirlia quickly teleported back to the House, running through the crowd desperately searching for Ayui.

The man, meanwhile, had reached the driveway, where a few adventurous couples were… occupied. He passed them with contempt, looking at them as if they were merely dogs, playing in the street. In fact, he thought of them as less than the dogs. Continuing swiftly up the path into the yard itself, the man was confronted by an enormous crowd of humans. Smiling, he drew a small pistol and pointed it into the air, firing it three times, the rapport echoing around the grounds. Everyone stopped, looking at the strange man with glowing red eyes. He produced another pistol from a holster, and pointed them both at the crowd.

"Who's first?" He asked merrily, and the people began to scream and scramble away from him. Laughing, he fired off a few stray shots, hitting around them and scaring them even more. Enough play. He sighted down his pistol at an unlucky boy who'd been tripped in the stampede, fully intending to end his miserable, pointless life. He reacted with supernatural relfexes as a bullet came speeding towards his back, whirling under it and coming up, firing both pistols at the source. Damn. The police had showed up early. That clerk in the store must've called them- he'd get what he deserved.

Calmly, the man raised both pistols and tore into the oncoming officers, his shots snapped off with astonishing accuracy. Headshots, every one, fired blindingly fast with no warning. His hands were a blur as he reloaded and once again unleashed his fury. Even the trained police attack Pokemon didn't stand a chance- He fired three bullets into the skull of a Garchomp, nimbly dodging the slashing attack of the creature. Nothing could stand against him.

Inside the house, chaos ensued as everyone tried to get away. Steven waded through the crowd, occasionally tossing teens left and right as he searched for Ayui. He eventually found her, Kirlia perched on her shoulders. Steve easily picked her up and carried her out into the backyard, away from the fighting. Asper stood in the back holding a shotgun, directing the flow of traffic. Her hair was askew and her eyes were ablaze with anger. "Ain't nobody stopping this party!" She yelled.

Finally, all the teenagers were clear, and the only people who stood in the backyard were Asper, Steve, Ayui and Kirlia. It was deathly quiet. With a cold shiver, Ayui realized that she couldn't hear the sounds of the fighting anymore. And that could only mean one thing.

He was coming.

Warehouse Near Slateport

The battle for the first floor of the warehouse had been a breeze. Now, the soldiers all stood around the stairs down to the next level, contemplating what awaited them below. A shot rang out, and they all whirled around to see the only private in the unit dragging a body off of him.

"Bastard tackled me while I had my back turned," He said. "Devil moved really fast, too." Ryan stepped closer to the black-suited figure. Unlike the other guards, this one wore a full helmet with dark pieces of glass in front of his eyes. Ryan worked the catch on the helmet until it released and he ripped it off. They all gasped as they saw that the man's skin was ebony black. His hair was a bone-white, and his eyes were a dull red. If he were alive, Ryan suspected they would glow evilly. He threw down the monstrosity, putting a bullet in its skull for good measure.

"I don't know what these are… Be careful." Ryan spoke softly, steel in his voice. Before, the unit had been joking and gung-ho, but now they were hard and silent. Ryan motioned for them to go down the stairs, and they snuck down them, weapons up and at the ready, hyper-alert for more like that… thing. The lower level was dark, too dark. They clumped at the stairwell, reluctant to proceed. Night vision was useless in close-quarter combat- despite what video games thought, a gun flash was blinding when all light is magnified by a degree of twenty. Ryan popped a few flares and tossed them into the wide space. It illuminated a high space, filled with crates that towered up into the darkness, creating a veritable maze full of blind corners and choke points.

It was, Ryan decided, the perfect trap. And no sooner had they filed into the maze than the trap sprung. Shapes sprang out of the darkness- men in dark body armor, moving impossibly fast and jumping inconceivably high. Time seemed to slow as Ryan deliberately fired at one shape, then the other, then yet another. They just kept coming, guttural and inhuman noises coming from their throats. They wielded archaic, wickedly serrated blades as often as firearms, slashing and stabbing in a frenzy of motion. Finally they were through, facing yet another stairwell. Breathing hard, Ryan did a head count. They'd lost two men to the howling things in the darkness- including the private. Ryan hung his head. The man had been so full of life only an hour ago. He didn't deserve this.

The next level was surprisingly well-lit and open, featuring only a giant shape of some sort on the floor and a couple of black suited figures standing around near the middle of it. The assault team took them by surprise, dropping them without a sound. Ryan strode to the bodies and ripped off their masks- more of the black-skinned men. What the hell was going on here?

Suddenly, figures just appeared around the edges of the shape. They kept coming, their numbers only going up as their bodies piled on the floor. First one man died, then two, and before long it was just Sasha and Ryan continuing to fight. But they fought with the ferocity of many more, killing until none of the things stood to continue the attack. They stood back to back, breathing hard. They were completely out of ammo. Ryan grabbed an evil-looking sword, while Sasha merely reached into her pants and withdrew a long, curved knife, wielding it expertly. They grinned at eachother, nodding to show they were ready for whatever this place could throw at them. His expression sobered as he beheld the bodies of his friends and comrades. His face hardened into a cold mask of anger and hate.

They had just started moving towards the next flight of stairs when a lone figure emerged from it. Unlike the other guards in the warehouse, this one wore no armor. He only wore a black leather coat and pants, and wielded no weapons. Sasha drew a knife from her boot and flicked it at the man, sending it spinning straight at his heart. With a thunk, it embedded itself blade-first into his chest. The man looked down in surprise, then pulled the knife out of his chest. "Nice throw," he said, grinning from ear to ear. "Only problem is, I don't have a heart." He lifted his arm, sending a pulse of dark energy roaring at the couple that knocked them over.

Ryan and Sasha desperately battled this new enemy, but how do you fight something that can't be harmed? How do you fight something that is everywhere at once? And then the darkness enveloped them. "What are you?" Ryan choked out. The evil man grinned.

"You'll see."

House of the Setting Sun

The man moved slowly through the house, checking every nook and cranny, being sure to miss nothing. The old floor creaked under his feet, and he cursed the sound. His prey could hear him and may escape. The prey never escaped, but caution was never a bad thing. Getting cocky could get him killed at this point.

The prey in question stood out the back door, looking white as death as Asper and Steven, both now armed, stood on either side of the door. They would fight and die to protect Ayui, but she didn't want them to. She wanted everyone to live- she'd always hated violence, but now death was at her door. Asper counted to three and then threw open the door, Steven covering the open space with his shotgun. They slowly crept inside, motioning for Ayui to stay out back.

The man heard the door open and smelled two humans coming. Both adult. Not the prey. He jumped up, pressing his arms and legs to the ceiling and pinning himself up there, safely out of sight. In his years hunting, he had discovered that humans were an inquisitive lot. They looked side to side, down and all around, but they seldom looked up. It was a fact that he often used to his advantage. The humans passed below, wielding surprisingly modern shotguns. He should avoid the man- he looked like he knew how to use it. He dropped to his feet lightly, considering taking the man and his girlfriend but rejecting it in favor of going after the prey right away. Plenty of time for fun later.

He found her in the backyard, standing against a tree with a Kirlia standing beside her. Smiling, he reached for a knife.

Kirlia noticed him first. It let out a mental shout, startling Ayui out of her reverie. She started to move, but the knife was already spinning through the air, faster than even Kirlia could stop it. With a sickening noise, the knife embedded itself in Ayui's chest. She dropped noiselessly.

A great psychic shriek rose around the diminutive Pokemon. With a shout, it picked up the man and sent him spinning into the house at a colossal speed, sending him slamming through multiple walls. Then it fell to its knees at Ayui's side. Ayui struggled to breathe, blood staining her beautiful dress. She looked at Kirlia and smiled, coughing up blood. She pressed something into Kirlia's palm- her necklace. "Remember…. Me," She breathed.

The necklace was the same one that Ryan had given to her all those years ago- the blue crystal. Ayui thought it was merely a family heirloom, but Ryan knew it for what it was- an infinity crystal. Theoretically capable of storing infinite computer data, the crystal contained all of the top-secret works Ryan had ever been involved in. But what neither of them suspected was that the crystal was also a Dawn Stone.

And as Kirlia held the Dawn Stone, it glowed white and dissolved into its palm. Kirlia began to feel a tingle, then a burn, then an all-out feeling as it evolved on the spot into its final evolution- A Gallade. He felt his head grow a large crest. He felt as his arms lengthened until they ended in blades. He felt as he expanded, grew until he was tall, taller than the average human. Most of all, he felt experience, he felt wisdom flood into him. He scooped up Ayui, teleporting them both to a hospital several miles away and handing her to an astonished nurse. He then teleported back to the house, rushing along until he found the man.

The man, impossibly, was alive. He was just standing up, picking slivers of wood out of his chest. A strange, dark substance flowed freely around him, sinking into his wounds and knitting them together. Seeing him, the man drew his pistol and aimed it at Gallade, who stopped dead. "Who are you?" Gallade asked, his voice strong and deep. The man smiled a small, evil smile, just exposing the tips of his pointed teeth on one side of his mouth.

"I'm Tommy," He said, and his fingers tightened on the trigger.

Warehouse Near Slateport

They were chained up on a dais of some sort, naked and disarmed. Chains ran from their arms to rings embedded in a huge arch built on top of the pedestal. The whole thing looked sort of sinister and ritualistic. That much apprised, Ryan turned his attention forward. The entire space was massive, and every inch of it was filled with a black-clad figure pointing a gun at him. Ryan craned his head, spotting more standing behind him. Good, he reflected with a grin. They fear us. He faced forward again just in time to see a pocket of darkness blossom directly in front of him, depositing the man that they'd fought and lost to out onto this earth. The thing approached Ryan and Sasha, eying the lady and licking his lips. Ryan did his best to stare daggers at him.

"Well, well, well," the man said, chuckling. "The great Ryan Ribusaki, chained up and held against his will. Where's your strength now, little human? Where's your vast experience?" The thing kept grinning, the smile made demonic by his pointed teeth and the faint red glow coming off of his eyes.

"I think this is rather unfair," Ryan said, straightening up as well as he could. "It was hardly a fair fight. After all, you can't be human. What are you?" The thing stared at him.

"What am I?" He repeated, thinking about it. "I am a freak, a monster, a bizarre abomination. At least, that is what the humans say. What are we?" He addressed this last remark to the crowd, and they roared "WE ARE THE SCORNED!" back at him.

"We're stronger than humans, faster than humans, smarter than humans. What are we?"

"WE ARE SUPERIOR!"

"All our lives, we have been shunned by the inferior humans. They hate us because they recognize we are better. Everybody, show our guest what we are!" Each and every guard in that place took off their helmets, revealing black skin, white hair, and glowing red eyes. They grinned as one, showing sharp teeth meant for flesh.

"Arceus," Ryan breathed in horror. "You're all hybrids."

House of the Setting Sun

Gallade was about to die. He knew this for certain as he watched Tommy's finger on the trigger. But then the assassin looked down, momentarily confused as he felt something on his leg. It was Pichu, and it had ran up to his leg and was humping it. Tommy kicked out, sending the Pichu flying and then looked up in time to see Gallade knock the gun out of his hand. Tommy snarled, drawing twin blades and parrying Gallade's attacks as he struck again and again, using his arms as swords in the unique way that all Gallade do. He laughed at first, but his smile faded as the attacks came faster and became harder to parry. His face became a grimace as he felt himself being backed against a wall. No. Impossible. Nobody was better at this than he was. No human and no Pokemon. What was this?

It was only when Gallade had him pinned against the wall, one of its sharp, deadly arms resting across his throat, that Tommy noticed he had silver eyes. His eyes widened as he realized what that meant. "Ahnu Ra'katon!" He shouted, speaking some unintelligible language. He used the moment of confusion to kick at Gallade's chest, his foot thumping against his chest spike, fully out in the ferocity of the battle. Gallade went stumbling back and regained his footing quickly.

A flurry of knives flew through the air. Whack, whack, whack- Gallade struck them all down in a blindingly fast movement. He and Tommy struck back and forth, ranging over the entirety of what was quickly becoming a disaster zone inside the house. Their battle looked like a blur to any humans that happened to be standing around, both of them moving faster than the eye could track. Neither of them could gain the upper hand. Gallade could outpace Tommy, but the assassin seemed to never run out of tricks up his sleeve. Smoke bombs, poison darts, shuriken- Gallade was forced to constantly deal with a new threat.

Finally, Gallade leaped forward, feinting right and slashing left. Tommy fell to his knees, staring at the sky as his blood poured out of the gaping wound across his chest. Breathing hard, Gallade stood and looked at the body of his foe as it crumpled and hit the ground.

And he stared as Tommy coughed and got back up, the strange darkness whirling around the wound as he lurched forward and began the attack anew.

Warehouse Near Slateport

"Give the man a prize!" Ahnu said delightedly. "For generations, hybrids have been treated like scum- shunned and scorned, hated by the humans, even though we are the superior race! The humans refuse to treat us as equals- so now, thanks to our sponsor Pokemon, we hybrids will enslave the humans!" He turned to face the cheering crowd, lifting his arms high. Ryan's mind worked in overtime, comparing these hybrid's features with all the Pokemon he knew of. It had to be an immensely powerful one- A Legendary, even- that had no qualms with tampering with humans.

Darkrai. It was the only possibility. But if there was a Darkrai running around, impregnating humans to make hybrid children, wouldn't somebody have heard about it? "Oi, you! Freakazoid!" Ryan's derogatory slang instantly caught Ahnu's attention, and he was beside him in an instant, his foul odor washing over Ryan. He smelled of blood and death. Ryan stared defiantly back. "You couldn't have done all this on your own. Are you all little, pathetic clones?"

"No." Ahnu's reply was surprisingly calm, but fire smoldered in his eyes. He turned and pointed, lights coming on over an assembly quite similar to the one Ryan was chained to- arches, with naked human women strung up between them. "The Master studied you for a long time, human. He singled out the best, the most fertile women among them, and took them for the true believers." A cult, then. "One of those was my mother. I am a direct descendant of the Master- like all my brethren you see here!" Hybrids were sterile. The Darkrai must've worked long and hard to see this many of his children made. "My brother used to be called Tommy. He was chosen to lead us. He makes the plans, and I carry them out. We lead the revolution!

"And with you two imprisoned down here, there's nobody on the surface to stop us," He crowed in triumph. The enormity of the plan sunk in. It was true- without Ryan and people like him to warn the military, there would be tremendous losses before any attempt at fighting could be made. These hybrids would devour and enslave all humanity. "Once the assault begins, more of our people will join us. They will see that we are the superior race, and flock to us to conquer the humans!" There. Their whole plan depended on the rest of the hybrids joining the cult. The thing was, hybrids WERE mistreated by a lot of humans- a terribly high number, in fact. There was little doubt in Ryan's mind that the Hybrids on the outside would join the cult in its attacks.

"And as soon as my brother returns with the crystal, we'll know all about your little defenses." These words shook Ryan badly. One of them was after the crystal- and that meant that they were after Ayui. She had Kirlia with her, but what chance did they stand? Ryan and Sasha stared daggers at the monster before them.

"Hurt her, and I'll kill you myself!" Sasha screamed, trembling with rage. The assorted hybrids merely laughed. Ryan stayed cold and calm, steel in his voice.

"I will break these bonds, child of darkness. And then I'll knock you on your ass so my wife can kill you, and I'll kill all your little friends, and I'll burn this place to the fucking ground." Ahnu did not laugh at this comment. He would never admit it, but it frightened him a lot.

"Guard them at all times," He ordered, then disappeared into the darkness as he heard his brother's cry for help bound across the leagues.

House of the Setting Sun

Gallade was tiring. He moved slower now, and Tommy only seemed to move faster. He'd dealt him killing blows twice more, only to watch him rise and come at him again. And now, he disappeared in a blip of shadows. Gallade blinked, not surprised at the ability but surprised that he'd done it. He fell to one knee in exhaustion, breathing harder than he ever had before. Tommy had almost killed him, time and time again. He'd never reacted like this before. Why had he fought so hard?

Standing, he marshalled his strength once more and teleported away to the hospital. He remained next to Ayui constantly, holding her hand through the night and into the next day. The surgeons even performed the surgery around the standing figure- no one dared tell him to move, and he wasn't hurting anybody.

Finally, Asper- who'd turned up with Steven at some point in the night- pushed him into a chair and he'd passed out in exhaustion. As was the way of the universe, Ayui woke up while he was asleep. She blinked several times, squinting against the light. She attempted to sit up, but fell back as her abdomen flared with pain. She craned her head, trying to see her injury. All she could see was the slightly blood soaked bandage. She had a vague memory of someone- no, some thing, throwing a knife at her. She remembered pressing her necklace into Kirlia's hand. And she remembered the blinding white light that had shone through her eyelids as she had lost consciousness.

Ayui let her head fall to one side. Next to her bed in the white, clean room- a hospital room, then- stood that ever present heart rate monitor. She watched the lines go up and down the display, comforted somehow by the steady beep. Eventually, her focus switched and her gaze fell upon the unfamiliar giant in the chair next to the bed. What on earth was that? It was several minutes before her foggy brain warmed up enough to identify it as a Gallade, commonly evolving from a Kirlia. Wait… Was that…?

"He sat with you all night," A quiet voice said from nowhere. Ayui started, then settled down as she recognized Asper's voice. "Even though the surgery, he wouldn't let go of your hand. He's the one that got you here, but then he went back to fight your attacker." She paused, a grim look coming over her face as she remembered seeing that battle. What had the thing called himself- Tommy? Yeah, that was it. Tommy had been like some sort of zombie. Gallade had killed him like three times, but he wasn't dead.

Ayui's thoughtful gaze rested on Gallade for a long time before she closed her eyes to rest again, tired from even that little effort. As she fell asleep. She thought she felt a hand on hers. It wasn't human. Smiling, she grasped the hand and went to sleep.

**Please note: Even though this chapter is named Endgame, it IS NOT the end of Gallant. There's still far more to do, more to go. So don't stop reading here! Review, please!**

**-Pikdude**


	7. Chapter 7: Something Worth Fighting For

To be imprisoned at a time of war is the ultimate torture. To know that out there, your friends and comrades are fighting and dying while you're only alive at the mercy of your enemy, by his good graces, is far more grinding than any physical torture that can be afflicted upon the body. And while Ryan Ribusaki doubted that this could in any way be compared to a POW camp of any kind, he still felt as many have before him. The Children of Darkrai knew fear. They knew pain, they knew nightmares, they knew all that was dark and bad in the world. They knew that keeping him alive, imprisoned, was worse than any pain they could inflict with their hands- but that didn't stop them from trying.

Sasha, on the other hand, was untrained in these things. She didn't think the way her strategist husband did. Her prime fear was torture- Or rather, seeing Ryan get tortured. She knew that he was stronger than they were, but looking at his torn and bloodied skin still almost caused her to break down in tears. And it went on, and on, and on- The dark hybrids never tired of their game. Eventually, though; they stopped beating Ryan. Underground, there was no way to know if it was day or night, but Ryan estimated that three or more days had gone by. They needed to break out, and soon.

The opportunity came when one of the hybrids decided to turn their attentions on Sasha. Grinning, he approached her with his pants down, cracking his knuckles in anticipation of the heinous crime he was about to commit. Ryan and Sasha shared a glance, well aware of the fate this hybrid was about to find himself in. They nodded together, determination in their eyes. The hybrid saw none of this. Caught up in his lust, he merely roughly grabbed her legs, ripped them apart, and plunged his erection into her womanhood- straight onto the blade of the hidden knife she kept there. His expression changed to one of infinite pain as Sasha kicked out, hitting the ebony blade the hybrid kept in a sheath at his hip, sending it flying out and over towards Ryan, who kicked the blade, landing it straight in the ring the chain was padlocked to. He kicked the blade again, driving it into the lock and breaking it. The chain snapped apart and Ryan snatched up the heavily damaged blade, driving it into the other arm's lock and freeing that one as well. He now stood naked and unarmed, chains still trailing from the cuffs on his arms, facing the five or so hybrids whose strength he could not possibly hope to match. They converged on him, tossing their guns aside and drawing long, sharpened blades.

Ryan closed his eyes, bringing his hands together in a traditional meditative stance. One of the oldest and most well-known martial arts techniques is the heightening of the senses- deprive one, and the other five become more attuned. By closing his eyes, Ryan had enabled his brain to make the switch to a state where he could hear the heartbeat, fast and irregular, of the creatures around him. He could feel their approach, and he could smell their aura. The hybrids wavered for a moment, and then one stepped forward, bringing his sword down in a cleaving strike. The chain around Ryan's wrist snapped up, wrapping around the blade and tugging it out of its owners grasp. Ryan spun, the chain going out to its full length and impaling one of them in the throat. The other arm snapped out, this chain whipping around and cracking across the skull of another. Both fell within seconds of eachother. The other three attacked as one, enraged by the deaths of their brethren. Ryan leaped into the air, somersaulting over them, the chains trailing behind them and wrapping around their throats. Ryan bound over to the arch, quickly climbing it and choking the two hybrids with the chains.

The last one looked on at the meager human who had killed four of his superior beings. He sighed, drawing his pistol and firing. Incredibly, the human raised a manacled arm, the bullet deflecting off of it and hitting the lock that held the other human, the female, to her chains. The hybrids turned in alarm, only to see the female's arm extended in a throwing motion. He died instantly, the knife buried in his eye. Ryan opened his eyes, seeing what he had accomplished. "Not bad," he muttered, jumping down and taking the hybrid's pistol, shooting the other lock on Sasha and freeing her. Within minutes, they were both wearing the dark armor, and the bodies of their captives were lined up on the dais behind them. Fixing the masks over their faces, they grabbed up rifles and ran for the door. They had a war to fight.

House of the Setting Sun

Contractors had been brought in, directed by Steven, to fix up the house and make it good as new. The whole repair process only took three days, which must have been some kind of record. To be fair, the whole time there was a deadly looking Pokemon standing nearby, with swords for arms and hard silver eyes. Something about him just suggested that you don't mess around- so they didn't. Ayui laughed to see the effect Gallade had on them, stifling her chuckles as she watched the builders. Around Ayui, those same silver eyes- an oddity among the red-eyed Gallades- turned soft and beautiful. Those were the eyes of a guardian, she thought. She was partly right.

Gallade was adjusting to his new form. The first few days were a mess- he would forget that he was a Gallade, and accidently slice something in half with a careless arm gesture. He soon learned how to control this and other things. Normally, upon evolution into a Gallade, the psychic abilities decrease somewhat as physical might is substituted. It was not so with this one. If anything, his psychic ability grew even stronger, but more refined at the same time- more precise, more calibrated. He could bring to bear immense forces in a massive amount of directions now, but had no way to test the exact limit of his abilities.

The world had changed as well. Shaky footage from new reports showed that about three days ago- the night of the attack, no less- troops of some kind had poured from a warehouse just outside Slateport. For some reason, the military happened to have a unit on scene at the time, so the casualties were limited, but Slateport had been completely evacuated and was now held by "an unknown yet hostile party." Identical attacks had occurred all over- Kanto's Celadon city and Pokemon League buildings, Johto's Goldenrod city and the new Silver Tower, even the Hoenn Elite Four had come under sudden and vicious attack. Nothing was certain, but most everybody knew that Johto's Elite, at least, had beaten off the assault. The Johto champion was a force to be reckoned with.

Life in Oldale town, however, proceeded pretty much as usual. They were an out of the way city without much strategic value to speak of, and as such were by and large ignored. It had been this way for every war ever fought, the elders said. Most disturbing of all these events was the one that hadn't happened- an explanation. Nobody knew who these people were, or what they wanted. It was maddening to think of. Gallade had thought long and hard about Tommy. He hadn't picked up much from his mind besides a cold, clear sense of purpose, and an iron-hard will to do so. Tommy had been a genius, that much was obvious- But he hadn't been that deadly in open combat. He wasn't the serial killer which had plagued the regions for years- Well, he might have been, but he certainly wasn't the one that had attacked Ayui's hometown.

Gallade frequently stood on the roof of the house, his arms folded as he watched everything go on down below. Sometimes Ayui was with him; sometimes she was not. She was sixteen now, after all, and had an extremely busy social life to get to. She was now thoroughly caught up in that world of peers, boys and popularity. Gallade wanted nothing to do with it, thank you very much. He was well aware of the awed whispers that followed him when he went out in public but didn't really care. His vigil ceased at night, when the sun went down and looking became pointless. It was then that he wandered the forest, frequently visiting the clearing he and Ayui had discovered. Gallade no longer needed sleep- He found his solace in the forest, and embraced his waking dreams. Sleep was for others. This was his life now. It was the one place Ayui could not follow him.

For the first time in his life, in this he felt alone.

Goldenrod City, in Johto

Goldenrod had fallen. The city hadn't even put up much of a fight, really- The main body of the army was off chasing another force, near Silver Tower. That would be Tommy's doing. Tommy handled the subtle parts of the operation, and delegated the brute strength parts to Ahnu. And taking over a city had definitely constituted as brute strength. Ahnu and his men had forced their way through the pathetic barrier of marines that had tried to stop them, taking no serious damage. A few mercenaries had died, but they were humans and Ahnu cared nothing for them. He was looking forward to getting back to torture the humans though- Tommy had promised he could as soon as they had gotten the broadcast off. Speaking of which, Tommy really should have been here by now- and as if on cue, he walked through the double doors to the television station. Cold air swirled around his cloaked figure, and dark tribal tattoos now covered both sides of his face. Something sinister radiated off of them. Ahnu rather liked it.

Tommy didn't speak. They merely nodded to each other and stepped into the elevator together, riding it up the top floor- the broadcast suite. A frightened staff manned the computerware. They were means to an end, nothing more. "Is the broadcast ready?" Ahnu barked at one nervous-looking technician.

"Y-Yes sir!" He yelped, twisting his hands nervously and pushing his glasses up his nose. "The b-broadcast will go to every t-television in the world, s-sir." The blood drained from his face as Ahnu grinned, a feral gesture.

"Excellent," He said, turning to the cadre of vicious Darkrai-hybrids nearby. "You may eat them." The hybrids saluted, grinning before turning on their helpless human prey. Their screams followed him as he made his way to the right of his brother, who stood at the podium facing the camera. He spoke softly, so as not to disturb his brother. "All is ready." Tommy nodded, gesturing at the camera. In the editing booth, a hybrid who was picking his teeth pressed a button. The camera winked on, and a signal went out, overriding every television on the planet, even turning on deactivated ones. Everything with a screen was affected.

"People of the earth!" Tommy said, his voice deep and commanding. Millions looked on in horror at the face of this man, gathered around their phones, televisions, and public squares. "My name is Thomas. I was once like you, small and pathetic, short-lived and scurrying about my meager, pointless life." He took a moment to survey the camera, his red eyes seeming to bore into the soul of every onlooker. "But now I am better than human. My patron made me what I am, and he will show you the way as well. Think of it- your lives are so pathetic. You take so long to mature, so long to grow, and then very few of you actually live. We are better. We are the ultimate being. We… Are hybrids." There was a collective, worldwide gasp.

"We are superior! You will achieve your true purpose under as, as servants and breeding stock. We will take away all the little things, and give you purpose!" He smiled then. "You are welcome to try and resist. Those of you who do will make a nice snack." The transmission froze then, the smiling, red-eyed man burned into the memories of all that looked on. At the transmission center, Tommy turned to his brother. "We should go," he said. "The humans will try and destroy us here." Ahnu grasped Tommy's shoulders.

"You go. I will hold them here. I expect them to fight with honor." Tommy nodded, closing his eyes and teleporting away, his form collapsing into shadows. Ahnu Ra'katon turned to the Darkrai hybrids standing nearby. "Let us go and give the humans a warm welcome!" He roared, throwing his arms forward and blowing the wall out. He leapt at least twenty stories down, landing lightly on his feet and striding forward as the other hybrids copied his actions.

They'd picked up a couple of new recruits since they started getting the word out. As it turned out, there'd been an entire tribe of Venusaur hybrids living in the forests. They were so far gone they didn't remotely resemble humans- Many of them had reverted to all fours, the ones still walking on two legs so twisted and primal that they terrified humans wherever they went. These were prime examples of the superior hybrids- they'd moved past their pathetic human beginnings into advanced and deadly beings. They were fast, almost invincible, and capable of shooting thousands of seeds at bone-breaking speeds.

In addition, many other hybrids had flocked to their ranks. Prominent among these was one, very large Gurdurr hybrid- Some kind of defect or anomaly had caused him to grow far beyond his supposed limits. He now resembled a gigantic purple tank. His brain was gone, though. Not exactly a prime specimen… But useful.

Hybrids were superior. They would win.

Outside Goldenrod

Tanks rolled down the street, tearing the pavement underneath them. Snipers had set up in trees, abandoned buildings, wherever there was high ground, always searching the areas of the city for enemy officers, snipers, or scouts. Saysan had seen active combat and he knew that the snipers plied their deadly trade day and night- it never stopped. A bullet cracked overhead, and Saysan heard as if from a distance the radio squawk that reported they were a man down. Twelve bullets streaked back overhead, this time from their own camp. Saysan smiled- Snipers were a tight bunch, and they always looked after their own. The next few minutes were filled with high-velocity shots and rapid radio reports as the entire long-range cadre of the enemy was eliminated in short order.

Ahnu's mouth twitched in a gesture of respect as he watched, perched upon the tallest building in the city. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Meanwhile, acting Major Saysan ordered the bombardment to begin. Artillery emplacements located slightly less than a mile away opened fire, ten pound explosive shells hurtling from the sky and landing wherever the enemy was most likely to clump up. The first volley went unchallenged, but the second was met with flak cannons and… Were those hyper beams? Large, orange beams of light flashed out to hit the shells, causing huge explosions in the air. And where the hell had they gotten flak guns? As soon as it became apparent that the artillery wasn't as effective as they hoped, he gave the order to move up.

Tanks. Tanks had changed the face of warfare forever- They made trenches and barbed wire obsolete, pretty much demolishing fortifications. Eventually the focus of the armored battle vehicles had changed from destroying buildings to countering the enemy's tanks. All Saysan knew was, this enemy sure as hell didn't have any. So his would wreak havoc with the other guy. Troops moved behind each tank, sprinting and shouting over the roar of the tank's engines. This was the military. These were professionally trained, professionally equipped professionals. What sort of piddly little 'hybrid' rebels could hope to stand against it?

An unearthly roar echoed down the streets. There, around a corner- What was that? A huge purple blur shot around the corner, impacting against a building and wrecking it in the process. The lead tank's cannon swiveled and fired, the round impacting against the purple blur in a massive detonation. Cheers died as the purple thing charged through the smoke, picking up the lead tank and throwing it seventy feet into another one of his tanks. Screams replaced the cheers that had been there moments before. Now his men were angry. Expecting something along these lines, each and every one of them was packing a rocket launcher on their backs. There were five squads and three tanks within range of him. That made over twenty separate rockets and three shells streaking at that thing. It staggered back, roaring in pain before it blundered off, careless sweeps of its arms taking out chunks of masonry.

And then fresh horrors appeared over the rubble, writhing green tentacles surrounding primal, twisted bodies. Saysan watched in horror as the closest soldier literally disintegrated in blood and bone as the thing in front of him pointed some sort of fleshy tube at him. It happened again and again, some of the four-legged ones with two or more of the… Weapons, they must've been, because they caused death. His men were quickly dying, and their weapons didn't seem to affect the beasts at all. One died, but his comrades quickly made up for the loss.

Saysan brought his radio up to his face. "Torch it," he said quietly.

"Sir, we have men in the zone!" The artilleryman replied, watching the camera feed.

Saysan watched the slaughter for a moment more before clicking the radio on again. "Torch it. I said torch it. I order you to fire now- my authorization, my call. Do it." When the artilleryman still hesitated, he yelled. "DO IT NOW!" The reply was instant. Hellfire rained down from the sky, exploding across the front lines in a firestorm. Everything in the blast radius caught fire. Saysan watched as the atrocities burned and died, withering in the fire. He watched as his own men burned and died. He turned away from the sight, carefully keeping his face straight, but his eyes showed the truth.

The thing that opposed him watched, reclining in its chair it had placed in its perch. It nodded, musing thoughtfully. He cared nothing for the troops of his that had just died, they were means to end and nothing more. But perhaps he had underestimated the human leader- He had sacrificed his own in order to win, something that he'd thought the squeamish humans incapable of. He poured himself a glass of champagne- the one thing the humans had gotten right.

He tipped his glass to Saysan as he ordered about his death.

House of the Setting Sun

"So that's what they're after," Gallade said in his deep voice. "They're after us. Or rather, you." He stood, facing the television in the main room, the humans gathered around him on the couches. They all stared horridly at the screen, which was frozen where Gallade had paused it- the smiling man with red eyes. He'd gotten tattoos since then, but Gallade knew beyond a doubt that that was the man who'd attacked him- He'd threatened his Ayui and now he threatened all of the humans. But it was the first that bothered him the most, and he stopped for a moment to think about this. Ayui was his trainer, but… Was that really the only reason why? He shook his head, making himself focus on the matter at hand.

Oldale town was effectively useless in the struggle that now gripped the three major regions- Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn. Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos had been left alone- for now. Gallade had no doubts that the others were priority number one after the first three fell. Slateport was nearby, and was important as a port to control, but Oldale town wasn't close enough to launch troops from and contained no major exports or resources. It was fairly reasonable to assume that Oldale would be left well enough alone. However, Ayui was here, and if the attack three days ago was anything to judge by, that made Oldale a target. The only question now was could Tommy afford to pull enough men out of the attacks to assault Oldale?

He pulled Ayui off to the side and shared all of this with her. "Wow," she said after a period of silence. "Where did you learn to think like that?" Gallade thought about it, then shrugged.

"Came with the evolution, I suppose."

"So, if we stay here there's a chance the town will be attacked?" Ayui asked. Gallade nodded.

"A small chance, depending on how the war is going elsewhere." Ayui stood up determinedly.

"Then we're getting out of here. I'm not putting anybody in danger because of me." Gallade stood up as well, ready to restrain her from jumping out the front door. He sighed exasperatedly, plotting out his explanation.

"If we go out into the woods, we fall suspect to attacks from wild Pokemon or even a stray Hybrid working for them. If we went secretly, they wouldn't realize we were gone and they might attack the town anyways. If we went publicly, Tommy would realize he has a chance to hunt you down himself. Here, in the town, it would take a lot more firepower to get at you, but in the woods a single man could do it. I'm not letting you take that risk." Ayui slumped, outfoxed by Gallade's advice.

"Well we can't do nothing," She said, rubbing her temples. Gallade raised a finger.

"I didn't say we were going to do that, either." He gestured over Steven, who came trailed by Asper. "Our first move would be to try and secure the town. Can you two arrange for an evacuation of all the noncombatants?" Steven nodded slowly.

"It could be done," He said, thinking. "The women and children should leave anyways- Go to Littleroot or some city the military has under control." Gallade nodded at him, fixing his attention back on Ayui.

"You should go with them." He said. Ayui crossed her arms and shook her head, defiance in her eyes.

"And leave you to do what? Defend the town on your own? No way, I'm staying." Gallade sighed. He'd known she was going to say that, but he had to try. He also knew nothing would change her mind.

"Alright then. Next step, scouting. I can teleport myself a fairly long distance, so that will fall to me. I'll see what cities fall where and establish contact with the military. If we're careful about it, we could make this place a base of operations for information and intelligence." He turned to Ayui. "And before you ask, you're not coming with me on those. Your job is to stay here when I'm away and see that all the defenses are in order. Speaking of which, I'd best be off to help with those." He surveyed all the people in the room with his silver eyes. This was his family, and he would die to protect them. "You all have your assignments. Good luck." That said, he closed his eyes and teleported away. Asper and Steven left after he did, leaving Ayui alone to think about all the people out there who were dying.

"Mom and Dad," She whispered, looking up into the sky, "Where are you when I need you?"

Celadon City

Ryan and Sasha were currently parked on top of a skyscraper in Celadon City- the famous Department Store, in fact. They both held top of the line recon rifles with high zoom, and chatted idly as they stood watch over the western side of the city.

"I wonder how Ayui's doing now," Sasha said, slowly panning back and forth. "I mean, we're pretty sure she's alive, but we don't know for sure…" Ryan looked over at her. She was still peering through her scope, but a tear was in her eye. He reached over and wiped it away, infinite caring in the gesture. She turned to look at him, sadness in her eyes.

"I talked to a friend of mine," Ryan said soothingly. "He's going to go to Oldale Town and check up on her when his unit is deployed to Slateport. She'll be fine- She's with Asper and her boyfriend, and don't forget she's got Kirlia."

"Yeah, but what can that little Pokemon actually do?" Sasha said, her voice quavering. "It's so small and helpless!" Ryan chuckled at that.

"Did you ever really watch them train?" He asked, thinking back to those days. "Helpless isn't a word I've applied to that Pokemon for a long time. And those two have quite a bond, and you know what that means-"

"Vincet amor," Sasha finished. "Love conquers." She glanced over then did a double take. "Hello there, what are you?" she asked, fiddling with her scope. Ryan quickly found what she was looking at. A lone Houndour sat in the middle of the path, peering up at the town. "What do you think, dear? Pokemon or advance scout?"

Ryan looked it over carefully. "No Houndour in these parts," He said grimly, carefully sighting on the Pokemon. "And he's got markings like Thomas on him. He could be a Pokemon, but…" His finger tightened and the rifle jerked against his shoulders, the report echoing across the city. "Better safe than sorry." Now it was he who had a tear in his eye. He was good at what he did, but he hated it. Every time you kill another living creature, part of you dies with it. Ryan's biggest fear was that he was becoming some kind of monster, and the ease at which he killed the enemy's soldiers kept him up at night.

Such is war, Ryan reflected bitterly. To save something you must destroy yourself.

Oldale Town

"Steven," Ayui asked as they walked down the deserted streets, doing a quick check for any civilians left in the town. "How do you know when you love someone?" Steven glanced back at her.

"Met someone special, have we?" He asked jauntily. Ayui blushed furiously and he smiled.

"No! No, of course not, no!" Ayui said hastily. "I was just… wondering, you know?" Ryan knocked on a door, then kicked it in when there was no answer.

"All clear," he said, then addressed Ayui's question. "Oh, I don't know." He said vaguely. Ayui kept pestering him.

"But you love Asper right?" She persisted. Steven nodded.

"With everything that I am, and I have since the day we met," He said quietly.

"So you know what it feels like to be in love," Ayui insisted. Steven sighed, turning and squatting down until he was on Ayui's level.

"Look, kiddo," he said. "Love isn't some word you can look up in the dictionary. It's different for every person, and you've got to find your own definition of it. You'll know you love someone when- Well, you just get this feeling when you're around them, right? Like you're happy and there isn't a reason why. When you can look at them and smile just because it's them. That feeling is love, Ayui." He stood up and turned around, resuming walking. Ayui thought about what he'd said for a while longer.

"How do you know when somebody loves you?" She eventually asked, very quietly. Steven again glanced at her- Why all these questions, what was going on in her head?

"You can't know for sure until they tell you." Steven's mind went back a few years. "But you can see little clues, like if they make excuses to be around you when there isn't really a reason, or in the way they look at you when they think nobody's looking. But it's a dangerous thing to assume there's love just because you think you can see it- The only way to know for sure is when they tell you." Ayui trailed behind the now silent Steven, thinking about what she'd learned. Being a teenage girl, she had of course wondered a lot how her love life was going to end up. She'd decided to stop dating after a neighborhood friend of hers had almost killed herself over a breakup, but that couldn't last forever, could it? Surely there must be somebody out there for her. There had to be.

But she doubted herself as she walked the streets.

Oldale Town, One Year Later

"Hold the line!" Gallade bellowed as a fresh barrage of bullets rained down on their barricade. This was the third night in a row they'd attacked, and his men were running ragged. They'd taken mercifully few losses, and made the enemy pay dearly for them, but the fact was the Hybrid cultists simply outnumbered them. Gallade heard a gap in the shooting and popped up, mentally propelling a dozen rocks at bone-breaking speeds into the enemy lines and wincing as he heard the screams. He ducked back down, cursing this war for making him do this. He kept a careful count of the people he'd killed- not for pleasure, or pride, but so that he'd always remember what he'd done.

But then, he reminded himself as he glanced at the House, there was a good reason for him to fight. He just wished he knew what the reason was. It was the most curious thing- he felt driven and motivated beyond all compare to fight, but he couldn't quite pinpoint down what for. It was a continual frustration for him. Speaking of which, back to the fight at hand. This time the enemy had brought more men, a lot more men, and they didn't seem to care how many of theirs died. Gallade, on the other hand, was constantly aware he had a very small force and no way of replenishing his ranks. They were stretched to the breaking point, and Gallade was actually in hand-to-hand combat with the hybrid cultists. They would draw their wicked, ebony swords and he would send the signal to his arms that activated an enzyme, quickly converting the outer layer of flesh on the arms to an organic compound harder than steel. They would swing and he would parry, deflecting the blow and often ending the fight in a sweeping blow from there. But just as often he fought the clever ones, the ones who employed greater tactics against him. He relied on his rapidly dwindling stores of psychic energy to fight them off- At first, psychically pinching a nerve to kill, but as he tired his methods became more brute force- as in, aiming at a foe and sending a simple concussive shockwave that sent them flying. Still, they were losing- badly.

Suddenly bullets flew past Gallade's head- from the other way, the way he'd came. Gallade bellowed to hit the dirt and did so, massive machine-gun rounds roaring over his head accompanied by a chainsaw noise. The fifty caliber slugs ripped the enemy troops to shreds, and Gallade stood in the aftermath, breathing hard and staring at the military's APC's behind their lines, gatling guns still smoking. One of the men manning a gun pulled himself out of it and jumped down, walking over to Gallade and saluting. "1st Inter-Region Marine Expeditionary Force at your service. I am 1st Lieutenant Raymond." Then he broke all military protocol by extending his hand for a shake. Gallade noticed with a start that his skin was red.

He moved, intending to put the hybrid in a headlock and make certain he was what he says he is, but Raymond moved incredibly fast, grabbing his outstretched arm and putting him into a judo throw with a grace of movement that could only be military. Gallade sprang up out of the dirt, choosing instead to mount a massive mental assault. Raymond's impeccable expression slowly changed to a grimace as he felt Gallade break through his mental boundaries and sift through his memories at light speed. Raymond had lived a hard life- always scorned, always mistrusted because of what he was. But he'd gone into the military anyways- he'd enlisted, and had eventually worked his way up through here. A precursory surface search of all the men under his command turned up the same thing- This hybrid could be trusted. Gallade released his mental attack, a wave of weariness washing over him.

Now that he was sure the individual in front of him wasn't trying to kill him, Gallade took a moment to observe his appearance. Raymond had, as mentioned before, red skin, covered with what looked like half-feathers. His feet weren't real feet, but rather round in the form of a Blaziken. His hair was a fascinating reddish gold, cut short in a reserved militant style. His eyes were hard- like a bird's, and Gallade suspected he could see things that were very far away.

"What are you doing here?" Gallade finally spoke, surveying the APC's and even one light tank assigned to Raymond. It was a fairly sizable force.

"Objective one, secure Oldale Town and our intelligence asset there," Raymond said. "Town looks secure and you're the asset. On to objective two." He stayed silent after that.

"What's objective two?" Gallade ventured. Raymond met his gaze with a cold stare.

"We kill Tommy."

**Questions or Concerns about Gallant? PM them to me, and I will do an FAQ in the next chapter or two!**


	8. Chapter 8: The Storm Gathers

Oldale Town

Ayui moved among the wounded, comforting them and helping them in any way she could. With the recent attacks on the town, Ayui had received a crash course in battlefield medicine- nursing. Thankfully, the most severe injury she'd had to tackle on her own so far was a broken leg, but she'd seen the town's doctor grimly work on people that looked like scenes of a nightmare. Ayui remembered vividly the man they'd brought in that had been too close to an artillery strike- his chest so peppered with shrapnel that he looked more metal than human. And the blood… The blood had been everywhere. The doc had told Ayui to get out of there, but she hadn't listened. She always listened now.

There was one thing that she hated, however- Nobody would trust her with a gun. Not even Gallade would give her one. She was seventeen, for Arceus's sakes, but everybody still treated her like she was a kid or something! True, she still occasionally made stupid decisions and mistakes, but that was all part of growing up, right? And it was, but Ayui couldn't exactly use that as an excuse to get a gun. She wanted to help, she wanted to fight to help her friends- but they wouldn't let her, so she just sat behind the lines and cared for the wounded.

As she moved off, grumbling in her mind but caring for the soldiers on the outside, Gallade watched her from the doorway. He could feel the timbre of her thoughts- almost constantly now, such was their bond- and he knew that it angered her that he wouldn't let her fight. He wished he could tell her the reason he wouldn't, but he was unsure himself. He thought he'd figured it out over the past year, but he was afraid of how she would respond. It was ironic- Gallade, the warrior, charging fearlessly into a battle of blade and bullet but hesitating when it came to a girl. He chuckled over that and left, crossing the street into the old hardware store they were now using as a Command Center. Raymond met him at the door, excitement in his voice.

"I think we've found him!" He said, clearing a pile of folders off a desk and onto the floor. An assistant hastily scooped them up, rushing to reorganize them and file them neatly. One thing had to be said about the Blaziken hybrid- he was a great soldier and a good man, but a terrible organizer. He spread a map on the table with little circles drawn wherever they'd spotted Tommy. "See, the pattern clearly indicates that he'll strike here next," Raymond said, tapping a spot in Johto with his fingernail. Gallade studied the circles. He could see no pattern, but if Raymond said there was one he would trust him.

"The Silver Tower?" Gallade said thoughtfully. "That place's defenses are impeccable- why would Tommy attack there?" Raymond shook his head.

"No defenses are impeccable. If Tommy and Ahnu both gathered at the place, they together might be able to crack it. Lord knows those two are responsible for enough deaths," He added softly. It was true- whatever powers had been passed on to the brothers, it made them near invincible and extremely deadly. The count of men and civilians they had killed stretched into the thousands.

"So what do we do?" Gallade asked, bringing Raymond back into the present.

"We have to get out to the Silver Tower, and pronto." Gallade traced patterns in the map, plotting lines of attack.

"If we leave here, what's to stop this bunch from attacking?" Gallade asked, indicating a force of hybrid cultists that had been reported in the area. "Without me and your whole ensemble, the militia aren't going to be able to hold them back." Raymond grinned- a cold grin, not a happy one.

"That's why it's just us going. The whole division will stay here." Gallade glanced at him sharply.

"You and me versus the two most powerful hybrids in existence?" He asked slowly. Raymond nodded. Gallade's doubtful expression slowly changed into a smile. "When do we leave?"

The Silver Tower

Eon stood on the top of the Tower, gazing down at the surrounding land. His Tower appeared as a spire of light in the middle of a ring of darkness- the hybrids were gathering for yet another assault. The clouds were dark and the wind was bitter cold- Not that that would stop them. One of the two DJ brothers joined him on top of the Tower- he could never keep those two straight. He just referred to them as the Dynamic Duo of Dubstep. "How's our playlist looking?" Eon asked, referring to the recently weaponized speaker system that had formerly occupied their floor. It had been one of the world's greatest stereo systems, but with a little tweaking and a move to the top of the roof it acted as a gigantic sonic cannon. It also provided the Elite Four a little music while they battled the armies of darkness.

The man grinned. "Lookin' good, boss. Plenty of dub, plenty of wub, and a whole lotta kick-ass. Oh, and you're gonna love what the first track is-" Eon looked at him curiously, and his grin widened even more. "Doomsday."

Oldale Town

"No." Gallade sighed, rubbing his crest with his three-fingered hand for a moment. He'd known his trainer was stubborn- that had been obvious from day one- but this was a little extreme.

"It wasn't a question," Gallade protested. Ayui folded her arms and shot him a determined glare.

"No."

"Come on, I'm not a Ralts anymore. I've fought here and done perfectly well, I can defend myself-"

"No."

"Ayui, people are fighting and dying out there, and I-"

"Exactly!" She cried. "People and Pokemon are fighting and dying out there! If you go out there, what's to stop you from dying too?" Her face was streaked with tears. Suddenly, Gallade caught on to her belligerence- she was afraid of losing him. But if he did nothing, he might lose her, and that was unacceptable. He drew her close, wrapping his arms around her before drawing back, his hands on her shoulders.

"But I have something they don't," He said softly, gazing into her deep purple eyes.

"What's that?" Ayui asked tearfully, her voice quavering slightly.

"A reason to live," He said, something unfathomable in his eyes. He left Ayui there, her mind racing. She'd seen something in his eyes, that was for sure. But what was it? She continued to wonder as he walked out of the room. She cast her gaze skyward._ If anybody's out there,_ she thought, _Please, bring him home._

Forests Around the Silver Tower

The tall, dark-robed man teleported into their midst, walking with a haughty air and straight back, hands clasped imperially behind him. The Silver Tower had resisted their efforts all year, but today they would crack it. All the stops had been pulled out- hybrids, cultists, even some armor that their quartermaster had pulled out of his hat. Snipers watched the Tower day in and day out, savage hybrids prowled the forest around the Tower continually, and, of course, Tommy himself had just arrived. It must be said that over the past year, Tommy had grown convinced of his invincibility. He was protected by the divine, he preached to his men with growing fervor. His human agents were hard at work spreading stories, through whispers and campfire stories, that Thomas was invincible, that Thomas was a god among them. Tommy had told the lie so often that he had come to believe it.

He looked up, towards the top of the Tower where a tall, silver-haired man stood. Tommy felt his aura tingle as the man on top of the Tower met his gaze. It was a silent exchange, but Tommy knew that this man would defend the Tower with everything he had. Tommy slowly grinned as if to say "Go ahead and try to stop me!" He then laughed and turned sharply, striding into the shadows to ready his troops. The storm was brewing.

The Silver Tower

Draknos Sandrake sat in his room, the sandstorm raging around him. On any other human, the sandstorm would feel rough, aggressive; but it only soothed him. His legs were crossed and his hands rested on his knees, his eyes closed and his face completely relaxed in a meditative pose. A massive Flygon crouched in the corner of the room. Meditation was commonly used as a means of calming, of thinking and searching one's self for deeper understanding. For Draknos, it made him more receptive to the aura, the energies of the world. The Tower thrummed with it- powerful, multicolored auras, dancing around in a whirlwind of invisible light. But around the Tower, there was only darkness.

Draknos felt a chill as he directed his attentions upon the forest. The bowl of water in front of him rippled as if from a powerful force, and his eyes opened. "Something wicked this way comes," he whispered. The man across from him nodded in agreement, his silvery hair concealed by a long hood and a half-face mask.

"By the pricking of my thumbs," Responded Luke, son of Eon the Johto Champion, child of Lugia, his mate. "Expecting them to throw witches at us?"

"Macbeth aside," Draknos retorted, "Something seriously bad is out there. We need to go see your dad, pronto." Luke nodded, standing and starting up the stairs, Draknos hot on his heels. The sandstorm continued to rage in his room- an oasis of comfort in a sea of troubles. The weather outside, on top of the Tower, was decidedly less comforting. Dark, pregnant clouds loomed, and thunder could be heard periodically, a great distance away. The wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped, a sure sign of an impending storm anywhere. But something felt… _wrong_ about this storm. It looked like a storm and sounded like a storm, but to Draknos the storm was unnervingly unnatural. Eon stood tall on the Tower, his hair flowing freely in the breeze with that dark backdrop behind him. If the situation weren't so serious, Luke would've laughed- It was something straight out of a B-movie. He stood facing outward, gazing down on the looming enemy. To his surprise, Draknos realized he was the last of the Four to come up to the roof- Brenda, Luna, and the Delvarius brothers were already there. Brenda was sitting nearby, sketching the storm in astonishing detail. Luna was predictably holding her treasured assault rifle, peering through the scope and assessing the enemy forces. The Delvarius brothers stood at their control station for the Tower's sonic cannon stereo- probably making some sort of superweapon out of dubstep.

Draknos stuck his hand in his mouth and whistled, the sound quickly passing out of the range of human hearing. His beloved Flygon was there in moments, having used the door built into Draknos's quarters for just that purpose. He nimbly jumped off of the roof onto her back, landing comfortably in the specially made saddle and sliding his feet into the straps. He tightened them with a series of quick, coordinated movements, then proceeded to hover nearby. Eon turned to face the Four- each one picked by him or one of his kin, each one unique in their own way. Draknos, with his weather control and cool confidence. Brenda, with her drawing and superb teamwork. Luna, with her sheer aggressiveness and admittedly military style. The Delvariuses, with their music and tag-team Pokemon. Luke and Lilly, opposites in many ways but both formidable in battle. And, of course, himself- and as if summoned, his love Lugia appeared with a massive beat of her wings. She was massive, easily bigger than Draknos's Flygon, but also graceful and swift. It was no wonder Eon had fallen in love with the Legendary pretty much from the day they met.

No words were necessary. Eon met each of their gazes, pride and trust in his eyes. He nodded, too proud to speak, and walked over to Lugia, climbing onto her back and settling in between her shoulder blades. There was no need for a saddle, as Draknos had- such was their bond that some mysterious force kept him from falling. Eon personally suspected it had to do with some Legendary thing.

"Are you ready?" He attempted to yell. The wind was too loud, and he was drowned out. Luna raised a finger and reached into a pack, drawing out a series of compact headsets that clipped to their ears. She put her own on and touched a button, showing it was activated via a little blue light. She then tossed them to everyone else, who copied her with varying degrees of understanding.

"Comm check," Luna ordered, her mind snapping into soldier mode.

"Brenda, ready to rock!"

"Chris and Bruno, bringing you tonight's ass-kickin' hits!"

"Draknos, present."

"Luke, affirmative!"

"Lilly! THESE ARE SO COOL!"

"Eon, working and linked in," Eon finished. These devices were amazing- they could hear each other perfectly, despite the noise of the wind. "Alright, Draknos, up here with me. Luke and Luna hold the perimeter. Lilly and Brenda, the other side of the perimeter. Delvariuses, do whatever it is you guys do." His gaze swept once more over them, and he saluted. They all mimicked the gesture. Eon turned away and rubbed Lugia's head, asking her to fly a slow circle high above the field. Draknos copied him.

The elevator down was really designed for one person, but they took it in twos. As such, Luke was squeezed in tight with Luna- not that he was complaining. He had a bit of thing for the aggressive blonde, not that he would ever admit it. When they got out, Luke took a Pokeball and let out his Arbok. With a quiet command, the snake wrapped itself around his arm, it's tail pointed outwards like a blade. Luna nodded appreciatively, shouldering her rifle and letting out her Rhyperior. She wore her usual grey wifebeater T-shirt that showed off her slim musculature and slim camo pants. Her shoulder knife sheath was firmly in place. Arceus, she was hot.

Meanwhile, Lilly and Brenda chatted amiably on the other side of the Tower, talking about things that were extremely important and of no consequence at all, in that peculiar way girls do that. Brenda's Pokemon were all out and milling about, but all Lilly did was crack her knuckles and grin, positively bouncing from excitement. Brenda envied her- she was nervous beyond compare. In a moment, they would be fighting for their lives and this girl was babbling on about boys and crayons. It brought a smile to her face despite the gravity of the situation.

Tommy observed all of this from a distance. That Lugia presented a bit of a challenge- Eon hadn't used it in previous defenses. No matter, they would all fall in the end. He knew his master might have a bit of fun with another Legendary, especially a female one. He grinned at the thought. The nightmare playing with the bird! The whole idea was laughable. Perhaps the unicorns and phoenixes would come out for tea later. Except phoenixes were real- weren't they? Perhaps Ho-oh was a phoenix. You could never be too sure anymore.

Such were Tommy's thoughts on that day. It was an unfortunate side effect of being the child of a nightmare- Darkrai's own nature, while giving him power beyond imagining, also was contributing to his slow descent into insanity. The same fate awaited all the children of Darkrai, but in Tommy it was catalyzed. Ahnu, his brother, blessed with the same, if not greater, power was saved only through his ignorance. Tommy had been transformed from a human into a hybrid at a very young age, and had retained the keen mind he'd been born with. Ahnu had inherited the might but not the brains- he was very dumb. But his lack of intelligence ensured that he would stay sane for now. Likewise, the majority of the rank-and-file hybrid cultists were too stupid to fall prey to the collapse of the rational mind. The officers, the ones who'd volunteered to be transformed, were all suffering varying degrees of insanity.

On others it might have been crippling. On Tommy and his brethren it only made them more dangerous. There is no force on Earth greater than a self-righteous one- proven time and time again throughout history as such dictators are only narrowly defeated.

Outside Celadon City

"What do you mean, the city still stands?" The man cringed as Tommy barked out his reprimand over the call. He'd heard the boss was scary, but this was his first time seeing it. The anger in his eyes raged like an inferno.

"Sorry, boss," The man said with as much confidence as he could muster. "It's those damned Ribusakis- they've gotten every scout we've sent. Without a good look at their defences, I don't feel that we can mount a good assault on-"

"Shut up, you incompetent fool!" Tommy interrupted. "If the scouts keep dying just move in without them. The stupid humans still won't stand a chance against our magnificence. Thomas out." The screen went dead as he signed off. The man sighed. Apparently, their great and powerful leader had lost the ability to look at the big picture. He had- and the numbers weren't good if they didn't take this town easily. Still, orders were orders, and he shuddered to think what Tommy would send after him if he didn't follow them. Reluctantly, he began preparing for an attack.

Celadon City

"We've got movement," Ryan reported. "Thermal shows a whole lot of heat signatures moving around out there. It looks like they're mobilizing for an attack." He was lying on top of the department store, prone and peering through his scope. Sasha was on a neighboring rooftop, providing an extra field of vision. A two-way radio set linked the two. Intel had a surprising amount on the enemy commander. His name was Ichabod Gatz, he was a former Special Ops commander and he was unique in that he was one hundred percent human in the hybrid cult's army. Motive was unclear- money, conquest or plain bloodlust were all suspected- but Gatz was no fool. He knew that without any decent intelligence he couldn't mount a good assault, so he wouldn't.

However, Tommy was another thing. Ryan had theorized from recent broadcasts and images about the hybrid that he was slowly growing delusional and impatient. He had suspected that Tommy would order an immediate attack sooner or later. As such, he and Sasha had snuck behind the lines last night and planted a bit of mayhem. His hand rested on the detonator now, tapping it thoughtfully. It wouldn't be long now.

Oldale Town

Ayui wandered aimlessly in the ruined, bombed-out section of town. This part had been one of her favorite parts- a whole strip of clubs and stores where she could shop until she dropped. Then the bombs had fell, and now all that was left was rubble and dust. Her hand rested on a piece of charred wood and a tear fell from her eye. They'd lost so much- so very much. She didn't want to lose anything else. Gallade knew that- he always knew what was on her mind, he knew that she didn't want him to go, so why did he have to go? Why had he left her here with the devastation and the memories? She sank down, sitting against the husk of a building with tears rushing down her face. Her dark hair fell down around her, hiding her face from view, but her heaving sobs echoed softly down the street. Unseen to Ayui, a concerned Asper poked her head around the corner.

"Ayui?" She said softly, slowly coming towards the girl. Ayui looked up at her friend and sniffed, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. Asper sat down next to her, putting her arm around her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. "What is it?"

"It's Gallade," Ayui mumbled, her voice filled with sobs barely held back. "He k-knows I want him to stay h-here with me, but he's going out t-there to fight and what if he…" Her voice trailed off and a fresh wave of tears cascaded down her face. "What if he doesn't come back?" She finished tearfully. Asper sighed, leaning against the board and patting Ayui's back.

"He'll come back," She said softly. Ayui shook her head, dislodging some of the tears off of her face.

"But what if he doesn't? Why did he even have to leave in the first place?"

"Gallade will come back, Ayui. He's got something worth fighting for- a damned good reason to live." Asper spoke with conviction, glancing at the slender raven-haired girl. Ayui looked up at her, despair and confusion on her face.

"Everyone keeps saying that, but nobody will tell me what it is!" She practically shouted. Asper pulled her into a hug, shushing her gently. _It's you,_ she almost said, but something held her back. She knew how Gallade felt, and she was pretty sure he would want to tell Ayui himself.

"Think about it, girlie," The redhead replied. "He's gone off to try and end the fighting- To keep you safe. He's doing this all for you." She pulled Ayui to her feet, leaving the words to hang in the air. "Now let's go get you cleaned up." Many miles away, aboard a long-range helicopter, Gallade sat across from Raymond. The hybrid wore forest colored camouflage fatigues, but Gallade preferred to be left open to the air. He gazed out into the distance, staring in the direction he knew Ayui was in. He always knew where she was somehow. Some mental itch always told him. She hadn't wanted him to go- but he had to. He had to go, he had to try. Because she wouldn't be safe otherwise.

"Hey, Gally," Raymond said, yelling to be heard over the wind. "Why are you here?" His blunt question took Gallade by surprise. He merely shrugged- He didn't have a complete answer. There was silence for a moment, then the red-skinned hybrid spoke again. "How long have you loved her?" At this, Gallade directed a frosty stare at him. How had he known…?

"A while now," Gallade slowly admitted. Raymond nodded.

"Told her yet?"

"Nope." Gallade went back to staring out the window of the helo. Raymond leaned towards him, studying him with those hawk-like eyes.

"Tell me," He said slowly. "Is she really worth fighting for as much as you have? Worth as much blood as you've spilled?" His question sounded odd- slightly bitter with mixed amounts of curiosity, like he'd had a bad experience before but was still eager for an answer. Gallade looked at him again, his silver eyes boring into the hybrid.

"She's worth every second," He said simply, and went back to staring out the window. Raymond sat back quietly. Gallade was an enigma to him- he knew that his motivator was a strong one, but what this Pokemon had gone through for the girl was simply incredible. How did he keep going? What was his drive to do more? Love was powerful, but it wasn't _this_ powerful. Unless…. No, he couldn't be. Nonetheless, Raymond kept a close eye on the Pokemon from that moment on.

Celadon City

"You want us to do _what!?_" The fury of Captain Withers was palpable. He paced back and forth, practically foaming at the mouth. Ryan sighed- the Captain was a decent guy, but terribly thick headed.

"I'll run through it again," Ryan said slowly. "We're going to lose this city before too long. We both know that." Withers nodded, gesturing for him to continue with a pipe he'd produced from Arceus knew where. "So if we want to keep Celadon- and a major toehold in Kanto- we're gonna need help." Withers nodded again. "Sinnoh called in a few minutes ago offering a crack team of soldiers at our disposal. I've looked at their track record and it is simply incredible. In fact, I've crunched all the numbers, and without them we're all going to die here." Which wasn't necessarily true, but Withers didn't need to know that.

"Son, this crack team of yours is composed of hybrids," Withers spat. "How do we know they aren't working for the enemy?"

"The same way you know I'm not working for the enemy," Ryan countered. "Morals."

"They're hybrids, they have no morals."

"Captain, I served alongside a hybrid once. Half-Blaziken, and still more human than a lot of the guys we've got out here. He'd been beaten and abused by us 'enlightened' humans, and he still fought to protect us. Why would he do that? Why would he fight?" Ryan's stare bored into the Captain, seeming to see into his soul. "Because he believes that humans can be better. So do I. Do you?" His question hung on the air. Withers grimaced, passing a hand in front of his face.

"Call in your freak show," He said grudgingly. "I'd better not regret this, Ribusaki." Ryan chuckled.

"Trust me, Cap," He called over his shoulder as he walked out. "You won't." Ryan whistled merrily as he walked over to the helipads. He sidled up to a transport copter, looked around and then banged on the door. "All clear!" He called out, and the door slid open to reveal the decorated Sinnoh Riot Squad.

As they stepped out, Ryan compared them to what he knew of them. The heart of the squad was a grizzled old Blastoise hybrid named George. He was tall, easily seven feet tall, and mostly human except for the shell that conformed to his back. In battle situations, he could reportedly extend the shell across his entire body. His weapon of choice was a small, compact submachine gun that he kept tucked in his shell. Not just for protection, then.

Complementing George were a pair of Hitmonchan hybrids called Lee and Chin. They looked almost completely like their donor Pokemon, including the spiked heads. Their bodies were curiously flowing and graceful, a mix of the human and Hitmonchan limbs. Both were certified experts of martial arts, and Ryan had heard that their hands were registered deadly weapons.

Next came what was undoubtedly the oddest member of the team- a Kabutops hybrid whose name he claimed was Shadow. He rarely spoke and he had no human characteristics save for astonishingly human eyes that peered out of his shell. He was a mystery to the world- scientists had no idea how the mix of DNA had turned out so lopsided in his appearance. All that aside, you couldn't find a better infiltrator.

Last, but not least, came what you could only call a mobile mountain. The only Rhyperior hybrid in known existence, Tiny was nothing like his name. He was bigger than George, nearly eight feet tall and heavily muscled, plates of armor resplendent across his chest and huge, slightly pointed arms. Arguably, Tiny needed no weapon- only his fists. However, because overkill was in these days, he carried around not one but two rocket launchers. When he ran out of those, he was rumoured to rip the bumpers off of cars and go at it with that. Before, Ryan had been skeptical; now looking at the big hybrid he found himself wondering why the hybrid didn't just use the whole damn car as a weapon. They all leapt to the ground, Shadow hardly making a sound and Tiny leaving a dent in the asphalt.

All together, they worked as Sinnoh's number one riot squad- an occupation that all too often sprang up. One would think that everybody could just get along, but no- Team so-and-so had to keep popping up, each time with some high and mighty agenda that would lead to many people losing their lives. Strangely, each time their grand scheme was stopped by some kid, but even after that there were still a bunch of thugs to deal with. And that was where the riot squad came in.

"You got permission, then?" George asked, towering over him. Ryan chuckled.

"Of a sort. This way, gents." He led them to a small trailer parked a little ways away. Taking out a key, he unlocked it, then pressed his hand to the keyhole. A little hiss was heard, and the door unlatched. "DNA verification," Ryan explained as he opened the doors. Inside was a treasure trove of weaponry- the ultimate arsenal. The Agency had one of these in every major city in every major region except Kalos, which so far flatly refused the need of such secretive, dark operators. So had the other regions before they hit their first snags. Inside was rack upon rack of weapons that weren't supposed to exist yet.

"Take your pick," Ryan said, flinging his arms wide to encompass the trailer. He reached into the corner, pulling out an ancient fifty-caliber rifle. He expertly hefted it, pulling back the bolt and inspecting the chamber. Satisfied, he slung it across his back and stood aside as the four explored their options. George eventually took two MK-34 submachine guns with round drums- an excellent choice for close-range combat. The twins each took a DK-56 designated marksman's rifle, a weapon suited as much to longer ranged urban combat as up close and personal scuffles. Tiny loaded up on four compact rocket launchers and a machinegun that was meant to be mounted because it was too heavy to carry. Tiny, however, hefted it easily. Shadow could use no weapon- he possessed nothing resembling hands. Instead, Ryan dug around in a box until he found a headset of some sort. Grabbing a rifle off of the wall, he disassembled them both blindingly fast and cobbled them back together. The rifle looked the same, albeit with a stand that looked like it could stand on its own and a small camera attached instead of a scope. The headset was bigger, obviously built to fit Shadow's head.

"Alrighty, put this on," Ryan said, handing the headset to Shadow. He put it on, looking around as the eyepiece blinked on. Ryan flicked a switch on the rifle and suddenly, it moved with the hybrid's head. Another quickly assembled backpack allowed him to shoulder mount it. "The headset is responsive to mental commands. You can mount the rifle on your shoulder for movement or place it down somewhere and control it remotely. Range is pretty good- up to a kilometer, in fact. Should be perfect for your sneaky-sneak game." Shadow nodded his thanks. "Well, let's get out there!"

Now that they were in place, Ryan and Sasha were free to go. They met at the helipad and climbed into a helicopter, Ryan helping Sasha up and kissing her when she got up there. She laughed, pulling the door shut and yelling at the pilot to get going.

"So… Are you going to tell me where we're going?" She asked. Ryan looked at her, a twinkle in his eye.

"First, Johto and the Silver Tower. After that… Oldale Town." Delighted grins broke out on both of their faces and they hugged again as the copter lifted off, setting out into the gathering dusk.

The Silver Tower

Gallade and Raymond crouched in the underbrush, peering through binoculars at the Tower. It was very tall, and very Silver. It was also very well defended. Gallade was pretty sure they'd be shot on sight by the angry-looking woman standing guard with an assault rifle. Raymond let out a low whistle.

"Good looking and deadly," He muttered. "I can see why Eon chose her." Gallade rolled his eyes. "But where's Tommy boy?" He continued, looking around. "No sign of him anywhere- I thought for sure he'd be burning trees or something because he can."

"Ooh, I like that idea!" Said a sinister voice behind them. They both whirled around to receive kicks to the face, knocking them both flat. Tommy stood there behind two burly hybrids, grinning savagely. "Thank you for the idea. Kill them." He told them, then the guards, who leveled their rifles at them both. There was no time to react, no time to do anything. Gallade looked up at the sky, up at the whirling clouds and flashes of lightning. _I'm sorry, Ayui,_ he thought, and closed his eyes.

**Note: The Silver Tower isn't mine. It and all affiliated characters belong to Lord Lucious, and are used with his permission and consent.**


	9. Chapter 9: A Bitter Victory

**Hello, readers! Sorry about that last cliffhanger.**

**HAHAHAHA, no I'm not.**

As the night came on, reports came in from all over. Dozens of attacks had taken place during the dusk, and hundreds had lost their lives on both sides. They'd lost Cinnabar Island, and Kanto's Champion had gone dark around midnight. The worst was feared. In Johto, the military had finally taken Goldenrod, only to be chased out again by a renewed force of hybrids. The Silver Tower was locked in a desperate struggle for survival. Hoenn fared no better- Fortree was burning, Mauville's power plant had been seized and the city plunged into darkness, and Lillycove was under siege. It wasn't expected to hold to the morning. The only victory, the only beacon of hope in the storm, was that Celadon had beaten back a major offensive. Local officers attributed the victory to a force of four hybrids- a riot squad from Sinnoh that somebody had brought in. Leading the troops, they'd completely destroyed the enemy offensive and even captured their commander, who was en route to the most secure location they had. Sinnoh had ordered all of its forces to support the flagging regions of Kanto and Hoenn, and men, Pokemon, even hybrids were pouring in to fight the Dark hybrids.

But even this most welcome news didn't mean anything if they continued a defensive pattern. They would add, at best, six months more of defense. The captured commander at Celadon would prove to be their boon. If he didn't break, if he didn't give up the locations of the Darker's bases, they were doomed. However, they had the best interrogator available on the way to where Gatz was even now being transported- The Silver Tower, their most secure holding. That was, assuming it survived the night. Eon was a strong Champion, and his Four was one of the best Fours to be found, but he was in the end just a man. He'd staunchly refused any assistance from the army, saying "The Tower will tend to its own affairs, thank you." Regardless, a detachment of heavily armed paratroopers stood ready to drop at a nearby airfield, and the Ribusakis were on their way.

Eon had known the pair were on their way before the message had arrived. He'd once met Ryan Ribusaki, many years ago. The man was competent, but by no means special in his skills or prowess. What drove him, what made him such a game-changer, was the same thing that drove Eon. He smiled as he glanced down at his magnificent Lugia. They were together- what could possibly stand against them?

Somewhere below, a horn sounded, and the coming night lit up with Flamethrowers and Hyper Beams. Eon and Draknos continued to fly above the tower, overseeing all. Draknos thumbed a Pokeball, letting out his Skarmory, who flew aside his Flygon. Eon let out Hawkeye, his Pidgeot with that rare effect of an alternate color scheme called "shiny." Far below, Luna fired her assault rifle in quick, short bursts into the brush. Screams echoed up as the bullets found their marks. His son Luke stood aside, his Arbok wrapped around his arm and ready to fight them hand to hand. On the opposite side, his daughter Lilly danced excitedly, pointing her fingers like a gun and shouting "BAM!" Wherever she pointed, massive concussions of air flew outward, knocking down everything in its path. Brenda's Pokemon team worked in a constant flow, their movements seemingly random but carefully coordinated.

Eon spotted a siege engine of some kind- some big, wheeled behemoth with some kind of cannon mounted- crashing through the forest on the left, into a blind zone. He pointed it out and Draknos nodded, swooping down and letting out the rest of his Pokemon team. They buried the tank in sand. His Flygon unleashed a Hyper Beam, crystallizing the mound of sand and trapping the tank inside.

And then it was his turn as he spotted a group of black-armored men sprinting across open cover, clearly intending to get to the Tower. He swooped down, stopping in front of them with his Lugia hovering majestically and beating her great wings. She opened her jaws, unleashing blue flames upon the men in her Dragonfire attack. Most Pokemon knew four moves at most, but Lugia seemed to have an incredibly diverse arsenal at her disposal. Then again, so did he.

Finally, they all heard a massive burst of static as the Tower's sonic cannons activated. Eon looked back towards the Tower in time to see the Delvariuses raise their arms and slam down on their console. The air thrummed as Nero's "Doomsday" began to play. The sonic cannons swiveled, targeting clumps of foes and blasting the music towards them. Eon grinned, directing his mate back to her holding pattern.

He was so busy running the fight he didn't notice the Gallade about to die on the edge of the forest.

Forest Surrounding the Tower

Gallade had heard that your life flashed before your eyes just before you died. Even in the midst of it, he appreciated the chance to retrospect. His entire flashback seemed focused around Ayui- beautiful, young, naive Ayui; who'd taken home an egg and raised a young Pokemon because for her, there had never been any other choice. That was just the way she was, and he loved that about her. He found no peace with death- only sorrow, a regret that things with Ayui hadn't worked out like he hoped.

He heard two gunshots. _Thump-thump. Thump-thump._ Was that his heart? _Thump-thump._ Surely his heart couldn't still be working. He was dead. _Thump-thump._ He felt the rain on his face, the chill in the air. _Perhaps not,_ he decided and opened his eyes. The two hybrid soldiers lay face-down in the dirt, neat little holes drilled through the back of their skulls. The wash of helicopter rotors filled the air, and Gallade looked up to see a familiar face peering down at him, rifle at the ready. He was a little older, a little grayer to be sure, but it was definitely the man he thought of as a father.

Ayui's parents had showed up at last. Gallade leapt to his feet as Ryan rappelled to the ground off of the helicopter.

"Been a while, hasn't it?" Ryan yelled, grinning from ear to ear. Gallade matched it, holding out his hand. Ryan took it and they shook. Sasha hit the dirt, saw him, shrieked and ran forward, hugging him so hard he thought she might choke him out.

"Where have you been? Is Ayui alright? How is she doing? Where is she? You didn't bring her here, did you!?" Sasha's delight turned quickly to worry and then to anger. Gallade held up his arms, overwhelmed.

"No, she's not here. I left her back at Oldale Town." Sasha breathed a sigh of relief, then found another thing to nag him about.

"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE AND NOT THERE!?" Raymond stepped forward, clearing his throat.

"Actually, that one's my fault." He proceeded to explain all that had happened at Oldale, along with he and Gallade's decision to try and take out Tommy. Ryan listened carefully, shaking his head.

"Ambitious, but stupid," He said. Gallade nodded. Ryan shrugged his rifle off of his shoulder, pointing it at Gallade and firing over his shoulder, killing the hybrid there. "Best keep up with our stupid plan, then!" They all moved along, Raymond, Sasha and Ryan keeping a continuous stream of fire on any hybrid that showed its face. Gallade refused to carry any rifle. It just felt wrong to use anything except the blades on his arm. They all staggered as a sonic cannon's beam swept over them, some sort of techno-modern music blasting.

"Damned kids and their modern music," Raymond grumbled, then got a weird look. "I sound freakin' old." Gallade made a low rumble that could have been laughter. Ryan slapped his shoulder.

"Welcome to the club, old man." He held up his fist, calling for a stop. He checked a micro computer strapped to his wrist. "They've got some sort of comms system flying around out here. Patching in now." He tapped a few buttons and the sounds of fighting burst into life.

"Luna! Over there!"

"I see him!"

"Tank! West side, closing fast!"

"Draknos, on that. I'll take the other one."

"North perimeter taking a hell of a lot of fire! We're getting pinned down out here!"

"Luke, get over there! I'll hold this side!"

Ryan glanced up. "Looks like they could use some help. Gally, you still teleport?" Gallade blinked and they all stood at the base of the tower. A tall, blonde and tough-looking woman crouched behind a makeshift barricade as bullets zinged overhead. They all scattered, diving for cover. Ryan ducked behind the same barricade as Luna. "Ryan Ribusaki!" He shouted. "Pleased to meet you!" He held out his hand. She looked at him like he was crazy, but shook his hand anyways. Then they both stood up and unleashed a hailstorm of fire. Luna's Rhyperior crashed around the trees somewhere, roaring and sending men flying. The sonic cannon swept around, pummeling a few ambitious hybrids into the dirt.

_Thump._ A massive Lugia swept out of the sky, silver feathers blazing gloriously. A tall, cloaked and white-haired man sat on her back. "Mr. Ribusaki, I presume," He said calmly, the sound going through Ryan's wrist communicator. "If you would, the north side is still in danger. We could use some assistance there." His gaze swept to Luna. "You and your giant rock monster get over there, pronto." She saluted and called out to her Pokemon. Eon looked back at Ryan and nodded before flying back up into the sky.

Since the majority of the enemy was at the north side, the majority of the good guys concentrated there. Gallade was left all alone to stand watch at the south side. Ironically, this was where the doors were. Funny how the hybrids hadn't thought of going after the doors. As if summoned, a wave of hybrids suddenly crashed through the trees and headed straight for Gallade. They were vile things- black skinned with bone white hair and sharp teeth. They might have once been people, but they'd been reduced by their anger and bitterness to little more than animals.

Gallade whirled about, slashing and cutting through their ranks. Somehow he stood against them all, holding them from the doors. He received dozens of minor injuries- scratches, cuts that weren't deep but were very painful. He was too slow in a block once and received a stab to the thigh. He headbutted the offender and winced as his leg throbbed. That wasn't very helpful. Gallade's vision became tinged red, and his mind descended into a haze. Action, reaction, fight without thinking. Finally he stopped, looking around for the next enemy. There wasn't one. Their corpses lay piled at his feet.

_Clap. Clap. Clap._ Gallade's head snapped up to see who was clapping. The man that approached looked normal enough, except for his bone white hair and glowing red eyes. A massive, spiraling tattoo covered his face and seemed to radiate evil. He grinned wickedly and Gallade could see the madness in his eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul, and his eyes showed exactly what state his soul was in.

"We meet again," He said. "I assure you, I'll win this time." He drew his sword and pointed it at Gallade. "Have at you!" Gallade lunged forward, slashing with his arm. Tommy casually blocked it. "Come on!" He taunted. "Is that the best you've got?" Gallade came at him again and was again casually rebuffed. Gallade continued to attack, growing more and more frustrated. It was like he couldn't touch Tommy- his form wavered slightly whenever Gallade got close, and he always seemed to be just out of reach.

"You can't defeat me!" Tommy crowed. "I am a hybrid, and you are a mere Pokemon! You can't touch me!"

"No," a voice growled. "But I can." Tommy flew forward as a fist slammed into him from behind, his dark cloak smoldering. Raymond stood there, all weapons discarded and his fists blazing. Rage burned in his eyes. "I'm a hybrid too. Part Blaziken and part human." Tommy tried to get to his feet and Raymond slammed his foot into his chest, sending him skidding back in the mud. His whole body shimmered as if waiting to burst into flames. "Which means, according to you-" He again smashed Tommy to the ground- "I… Can… Beat… You!" He punched viciously with each word, leaving little fires blazing all over the dark hybrid's body. Tommy cried out, trying to defend himself.

"Ahnu!" He shrieked.

"Shut up," Raymond snarled at him. He opened his mouth and breathed fire on him. Gallade looked away as Tommy screamed in pain, the hair on his body catching fire. He deserved to die, but maybe not like this. Nobody deserved to die like this. Finally his unearthly screams died away, and all that was left was a burned, charred husk. Raymond's jaws closed, stopping the fiery inferno. He stood up, staring at what he'd done. Gallade was the first to speak.

"Good riddance." And with that, everyone else came charging around the Tower.

"They're pulling back, what happened over-" Brenda's excited voice died as she saw the dead thing on the ground. "W-Who…"

"That's Tommy," Gallade said calmly. "We got him." There was a deafening silence. Then the air erupted with shouts and cheers, the gathered people celebrating what they saw as a massive victory. Luke hugged his sister Lilly, Draknos high-fived everybody, and Eon shook hands because he was the mature one. Luna punched the air and then grabbed Brenda, kissing her roughly. She let Brenda go, still grinning wildly. Brenda looked stunned. Luna looked puzzledly at everyone staring.

"Well what the hell are you staring at?" She said indignantly. Eon raised his hands.

"Don't ask, don't tell." He announced, sending everybody into fits of laughter. Eon clapped Luna on the back. "Seriously, though. Please don't tell." He winked at her and swirled off to do whatever it was he did. Draknos had snuck off somewhere, probably to privately celebrate with his Flygon or something. They all slowly filtered off until it was just Gallade and Raymond standing there, staring at their former foe. It was said that dead bodies looked peaceful. Gallade wasn't sure about burned bodies, but he was pretty sure Tommy would have looked as evil and insane dead as he had alive.

Then the body got up. Its eyes blazed blue and shadowy essence poured off of it. With a sickening crunching noise, the corpse's burned mouth opened and a voice came out- as ancient and evil as time itself.

**"You have killed my child,"** The voice said. **"Where is his brother? AHNU!"** His voice thundered out across the world, and a blip of shadow appeared, depositing the hybrid they knew as Ahnu in front of the corpse. Ahnu knelt in front of him.

"My Lord," He said. "I hear your summons and obey." The corpse nodded. Ahnu glanced upwards. "My Lord, if I may be so bold, why are they still alive?" He looked at Gallade and Raymond. The corpse's horrible head turned towards them.

**"No ordinary creature, not even a hybrid, could have defeated one of my direct sons. They fought well today. Thomas's death is… regrettable, but plays into my plan. Using this body, I can return to the mortal world with a physical frame."** Power radiated off of the corpse like a microwave. **"Mark this well, Son of Honor and Blended Flesh. In one year I will return. Then- I will take this world to be mine."** He disappeared in a crack of shadows, taking Ahnu with him. A sizzling rune was burned into the ground where the corpse had stood. Gallade mentally contacted Eon- He had a feeling this wasn't something that should be common knowledge.

The Johto Champion stormed out of his Tower, his cloak flowing behind him. He paused at the rune. "Explain." Raymond proceeded to fill in what he had missed, with Gallade providing the mental images to back it up. Eon's hand rested on the hilt to a sword neither of them had noticed before- long, gracefully curved with a white and gold scabbard.

"This rune," Eon muttered. "It shouldn't exist. It can't exist…"

"Why?" Gallade asked, unable to fathom what the human was thinking. Eon's steely gaze met his.

"Because this is the sign of Darkrai. It means the world is ending."

Oldale Town, Four Weeks Later

The attacks had all stopped. Across the Regions, not a single hostile hybrid was to be found. It was like they had just disappeared overnight. The grateful humans chalked it up as a mystery and left it at that- They didn't really want to know. Slowly, they began to rebuild and count their losses. Kanto had been hit the hardest- its Champion was lying in a hospital bed, near death. All Pokemon League activity had been halted. Hundreds of people were missing or dead, along with thousands of Pokemon. Entire forests were still burning, and some rivers had been poisoned with the waste the dark hybrids had left behind. The Regions were struggling on, crippled by the attacks but drawn ever onwards by the promise of a brighter future.

Gallade knew better. One year, and the world would end. Eon had been sketchy about the details- he'd mumbled something about needing to find a prophecy and the unholy realm. It was that that had scared Gallade- it wasn't seeing Darkrai, it wasn't the Legendary's promise of death. It was that Eon was scared that terrified Gallade. Anything bad enough to scare that man…

He'd returned with Ryan and Sasha to Oldale Town immediately after the Tower. Ayui had ran to him and hugged him, tears in her eyes. It should have by all means been a happy reunion, but something remained unsaid between them. Normally Gallade could read Ayui's mind like a book, but her thoughts were clouded. They whirled around and around like a hurricane, dashing this way and that with no clarity at all. It seemed that even he couldn't read a mind that didn't know what to think. To be fair, a good part of the unsaid things was his fault- but he couldn't seem to say it. The words stuck in his throat, lingered on his tongue before he pulled them back. Ayui knew this and it made them being around each other a little awkward. Because of this, Gallade took to wandering the forest as much as he could. He walked along rivers, climbed hills and spoke to all manner of Pokemon in the forest. Occasionally, late at night, he would see ghostlike shadows flit between the trees, only to have vanished without a trace by the time he got there. He discovered a clearing deep in the woods where a perfectly still pond was formed. Even Pokemon seemed to avoid disturbing it- Poliwag wouldn't touch it, Pidgey didn't look for fish under its surface. It was a natural mirror that reflected the sky above it perfectly.

And so it came to be, about two months after Tommy had been killed, that Gallade was standing before this pool at an ungodly hour of the morning. Far from civilization, the stars blazed bright and cold, high above humans and Pokemon and their petty worries. It was a sobering thought to think that in the grand scheme of things, when compared to all that wonder out there, the Earth mattered about as much as an exotic fly. Interesting, but not important in the least.

"The stars are beautiful tonight," Came the voice from beside him. His head whipped around to see a ghostly figure at the edge of the pond. His arms had come up, ready to fight. "I am not an enemy, Gallade." The pale figure came forward, emerging into starlight. It was a Gardevoir. She wore the long, flowing gown of her kind, but something was different about hers. It was graceful and elegant, yes, but also tailored close to her body in a way that looked… alluring. Even the way she moved seemed attractive. Gallade relaxed, bowing to the newcomer.

"The heavens are always beautiful," Gallade replied. "It is we who change and see it differently." She seemed to glide over the grass as she came to stand by him at the pond.

"Well said." Her eyes were a deep, dark shade of red. They didn't look menacing; rather, soft and sensual. Gallade could sense many emotions within her- curiosity about him, a sense of wonder of the natural beauty around her, a great and deep sadness that stretched through every corner of her psyche. That, Gallade recognized. He had seen it in the minds of grim-faced warriors and grieving widows. He had seen it in Raymond and in Eon. He sensed it in himself when the memories of fighting came back in the night.

"We have both seen things we oughtn't have." Gallade said. It wasn't a question, it was a fact. She nodded in agreement.

"Been through things that we shouldn't have." Her sadness surfaced, grieving for what had been and what was lost. She'd lost someone- long ago, but she still felt it. Gallade felt sorry for her- but was that all? "In the end, there's only the stars," She said absently, looking up at the sky. "People die every day. Forests wither and become deserts. Even mountains succumb to Time. Eventually the Earth will be destroyed and all that will be left is the stars." Gallade stared up as well. The stars had never seemed so cold- they would be around long after he had passed, all his work for nothing. He opened his mouth to speak, but she was gone. He looked around for her, but there was no trace. No footprints, not even any residual psychic energy. She'd had a disquieting effect on him- her words had made him question his purpose. Who was he when compared to the stars? Barely a drop in the ocean.

He returned to the house later that night, troubled and dark thoughts flowing through his mind.

The Desert

Sand. Sand, sand, sand, nothing but sand. Sand beneath them, sand above them, sand among them. Draknos was in his element. He moved as easily over the sand as a snake, looking perfectly at home in the thick layers of sand that flew through the air due to the desert winds.

Eon felt like an intruder. The sand seemed to fight him, slipping out from under him and pushing him back. It was as if the desert was alive- that it had recognized that he didn't belong and was trying to get him out. He and Draknos had flown here from the Tower, on Lugia and Flygon. They both now rested in Pokeballs. He didn't usually confine his mate to a Pokeball, but she _hated_ sand and needed rest. He suspected Draknos had the same reasons for putting Flygon away.

They had spent the months after Tommy's death and the battle for the Tower shut up in Draknos's room, attempting to divine what Draknos called "The eddies and currents of Time." Eon had thought it sounded cool at the time, but what it really encompassed was sitting perfectly still in the middle of a sandstorm for hours at a time, pondering the mysteries of the universe or whatever the hell it was Draknos did. Eon was a man possessed of nearly infinite patience, but even his was worn down after two months of sitting in a sandstorm with no results. He'd been about to give up when an image had appeared in the sand, clear as day, of a solid structure rising from the sands of a desert. "There," Draknos had said. "There is where we must go." And they had, Draknos somehow sure of where he was going. Eon doubted him now as they crested yet another dune in the endless desert.

"Drake," He called out. "How much further to this accursed place?" Draknos had stopped.

"We're there," He said simply. The sand cleared in front of them and a tall, towering structure was slowly revealed. It was built of sandstone and styled after desert cultures, with round turrets and pointed caps like upside-down raindrops. The whole thing was huge- Eon wondered how he hadn't seen it before. They lowered their hoods and entered the building. Unlike outside, where the air was hot and stuffy (and filled with sand) it was still and cool inside. It was only partially illuminated by little holes in the walls. Unlit torches hung from the walls and symbols marched across its surface, exquisitely carved and completely unintelligible. Draknos ran his hand along them, muttering words to himself in a language that Eon couldn't understand.

The temple was large, with a warren of passages within it, but Draknos steadily forged ahead, picking paths seemingly at random. Now they were in a colder section with less light- alcoves dotted the walls on either side, carved statues of creatures lost to legend sitting within. Eon stopped at one that depicted a snake. This one looked familiar… He hurried along so as not to lose Draknos. The other man disappeared around a corner and Eon's stride lengthened into a run. He turned the corner and almost bumped into Draknos, who regarded him with a mysterious look. "Come," He said, and stepped through a doorway.

Through the arch was the heart of the temple. It was a large open room, round and shaped like an arena with a floor of sand ringed by stone tiers of seats. Draknos walked down to the arena floor, striding to the center of it and stopping. Eon trailed him, looking around warily. There was something powerful in this room- something ancient. He stood next to Draknos. "I don't think we should be in he-" He fell silent as he heard a slithering noise. The sand moved, outlining a large tube like body that moved around the edge of the arena. The thing was huge, easily circumventing the entire space. Eon's hand went for his sword, but Draknos stopped him by grabbing his wrist. The younger man's grip was like iron.

A huge head broke the surface, scaled and slick. Two large, pure white but undeniably snake eyes blinked, shedding sand. Then it lifted out of the sand, revealing its entire form. It was easily twenty feet tall, shaped like a snake, its scales black and green. Five flat fins protruded from its back and three short tentacle-like things came from its side. Draknos knelt before it, but Eon stood his ground. "Zygarde," He said, his voice a mix of awe and caution.

The Lord of Order swirled, becoming a blur of black and green and shrinking down before solidifying in human appearance. He was now ten feet tall and clad from head to toe in a black robe with green swirls all around it. His eyes were a disconcerting white and a forked tongue shot out of his mouth, tasting the air. Zygarde was supposed to be just a legend- a kind of guardian spirit for the ecosystem. He kept the order of the universe, the polar opposite of Yveltal, Destruction. Arceus had created the world but this was one of the Pokemon that looked after it- possibly one of the oldest and most powerful Pokemon in existence.

**"You have returned,"** It said. It's voice was soft but seemed to reverberate around the room, gathering power with every echo. Its solid white eyes were fixed on Draknos. **"I trust the sands have served you well."**

"They have, Lord," Draknos answered him, his voice sounding small compared to the giant in front of them. "The sands led me to the Tower, and now they have led me here. I bring with me a man named Eon, Champion of the Johto Region and Lugia's Trainer. We seek your power with a new threat."

**"An outsider?"** Zygarde repeated slowly.** "This is most unusual. I will allow it, given the circumstances."** His gaze fixed on Eon, seeming to read his soul.** "Ah, Lugia's mate. I sense she is here with us. It has been a long while since I last spoke to her."** Eon's belt twitched, and the ball containing Lugia flew open on its own. She came out in human form, albeit the same size as Eon and Draknos instead of going for a gigantic form like Zygarde's. She bowed to the Legendary.

"Lord Order." He nodded in return, then looked back at Eon.

**"Your land is threatened."** He spoke darkly, images whirling in the sand behind them. Tommy, fighting and killing. His brother, devouring a city. A strange black obelisk rising from the sea. **"Tell me, Johto Champion. What do you know?"**

"Darkrai is responsible for this," Eon answered him. "He has kidnapped human women, siring many children that he has corrupted. He sent his two emissaries to gather them. Beyond this, we don't know much. But… If I may ask a question?" The Legendary nodded. "Darkrai is the Pokemon of Nightmares and the new moon. How can he threaten the world itself? Moreover, Yveltal is the Pokemon of Destruction. What is Darkrai doing here, now?" The Legendary laughed, the sound ringing off the room's walls.

**"Has not your mate explained this to you?"** He said, amused. **"You humans assume everything is clear-cut. Arceus created the universe, Dialga and Palkia and Giratina guard it, so on and so on. But tell me, human, who created Arceus?"** Eon could find no answer. **"The legends say that Arceus was born in an egg amidst Chaos. Arceus brought light to the darkness. His power is nearly limitless, but there is one foe even he could not defeat- the very thing that birthed him. Chaos. Before Arceus, there was darkness. Arceus could not overpower the darkness- it is eternal. It doesn't even have an essence. Darkness is the absence of light, matter, time- everything. In order to create the universe, Arceus had to defeat the darkness. An impossible task. So, instead, he cursed Chaos. He gave it a form, so that he could defeat it."**

"Darkrai," Eon said slowly, realization dawning. "Darkrai is more than nightmares. He's Chaos. A physical form for nothingness." The Legendary nodded.

**"Quite. Darkrai is the nightmare. He is the Chaos. Cresselia has kept him in check, maintaining the Order. Darkrai found a way to overcome her, to spread his essence by siring these 'hybrids', as you call them. If he is not stopped, Chaos will reign again. He's gathering power. The focal point is in ten months from now. Beyond that, all will cease to exist."** Eon stepped forward.

"But you can stop him, right?" He asked. "Surely Order can counter Chaos." The Legendary smiled, shaking its head.

**"If only it was that easy. I AM Order. I cannot act against it."** Eon rubbed his temples. All this talk of Chaos and Order was giving him a headache.

"So how do we stop him?" He asked, puzzled. This incredibly powerful Pokemon was telling them that he couldn't lift a finger- fang? To fight the force that would shortly destroy everything they knew. Their struggle seemed beyond hopeless now.

**"The answer is simple,"** Zygarde said. Eon perked up. **"One of the basic principles of the universe- discovered by one of your kind, in fact. The First Law of Order- Disciple?"**

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," Draknos rattled off. "In this way, Order is maintained." Zygarde nodded.

**"Darkrai is Chaos. Find the Order, and you will defeat him."** Zygarde's form began to appear stretched and thin, tiny cracks spreading all across its surface. **"Forgive me. I have not maintained a physical form in a long time, and I fear it is quite taxing. I must depart now. Well met, Eon. Well met, Disciple, but if you ever bring an outsider to the Temple again you won't survive to do it again. Lugia, nice to see you again."** He closed his eyes and slowly crumbled, dispersing throughout the chamber as sand.

"What is it with this guy and sand, anyways?" Eon muttered. His mate Lugia, known as Lucy in this form, chuckled at his remark.

"Sand has always been his chosen element." Draknos chimed in again, looking as always cool and collected, like he belonged. Eon glanced at his wife, who nodded and shapeshifted back into her Lugia form, flapping her mighty wings once and sending Draknos sprawling. A second later and Eon's sword was at his throat. His eyes gleamed dangerously.

"Now, Draknos," He said smoothly, "You're going to explain exactly who you are and how the Lord of Order knows you." Draknos nodded, still infuriatingly calm.

"Naturally." He slowly got up, still holding up his hands. He gestured at the stone seats behind them. "May I sit?" Eon nodded, and Sandrake walked over and sat down on the ring of stone benches. "You may want to sit, Eon. It's quite a tale." Warily, Eon sat. Carefully, Eon listened. Amazedly, Eon heard the truth behind Draknos Sandrake.


End file.
